Born in Oneida, New York, Kenneth Hayes Miller became a prominent painter and teacher in New York City in the early 20th century. Not much influenced by modernism*, he painted nude and semi-nude figures in settings that were hazy and romantic. His signature subjects were ordinary people, especially women, going about their lives in the city, a subject he cultivated after 1923 when he moved to a studio on Fourteenth Street. This location afforded him more exposure to the comings and goings of people on the street. He also painted landscapes in a style that was looser than he used with his figures.

At the Art Students League* and the Chase School of Art*, he was a teacher, credited as being especially important ...