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Kenneth Hayes Miller, Bargain Hunters, 1940, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.65, © 1940, Kenneth Hayes Miller
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Bargain Hunters
- Artist
- Date
- 1940
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 30 7⁄8 x 36 1⁄8 in. (78.4 x 91.8 cm.)
- Copyright
- © 1940, Kenneth Hayes Miller
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Keywords
- Allegory — quality — prudence
- Occupation — domestic — shopping
- African-American
- Architecture Interior — commercial — store
- Figure group
- African American
- Object Number
- 1986.6.65
Artwork Description
During the forty years Kenneth Hayes Miller taught at the Art Students League in New York City, he encouraged a generation of American painters, including Reginald Marsh, Paul Cadmus, and Sara Roby, to find inspiration in contemporary life. Yet he also counseled compositional balance and the value of classic form. For his own work, Miller looked to the shoppers, salesgirls, strollers, and streetwalkers he encountered around Fourteenth Street and Union Square. In Bargain Hunters, he captured the crush of femininity on sale day. Although the women seem frozen in space, their eyes sparkle with the excitement of bargain hunting.
Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection, 2014
Exhibitions
October 20, 2018–November 28, 2018
This exhibition presents some of the most treasured paintings and sculpture from SAAM’s permanent collection, including artworks by Will Barnet, Isabel Bishop, Paul Cadmus, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Jacob Lawrence, George Tooker, among others.