Walking The Puppy

Datec. 1845

DimensionsSight: 36 1/4 × 26 3/4 in. (92.1 × 67.9 cm)

Object numberN0256.1961

Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark

Photograph by Richard Walker

Label Text By altering the positions of the subjects' stiff arms to accommodate different props or activities, Miller produced only slight variations on the flat, frontal pose he preferred in his full-length portraits of children. In this portrait, the face is rendered in a stylized manner characteristic of the artist's work-large eyes, individually painted eyelashes, and full cheeks. Additionally, her prominent ears with the shaded, D-shaped inner area, is common in Miller's portraits. Active, playful pets enliven many of Miller's works. "Walking the Puppy" exhibits the artist's characteristically colorful, detailed background scenes, including the distinctively stylized foliage, nearly identical finches, vaguely suggested hills, a body of water and a stylized one and one-half story structure. Miller's interiors are rendered with solid areas of color defining the walls and floor, and typically include a drapery swag, tassel and a window revealing a brightly colored landscape vista. A variety of props and accessories further embellishes the likenesses, including the basket of flowers, cup, spoon and coral necklaces. The meticulously rendered lacework and embroidery of the costumes adds greatly to their visual appeal
Exhibition History“Is She or Isn’t He? Identifying Gender in Folk Portraits of Children,” Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, Sandwich, MA, May 13, 1995 – October 29, 1995.
BibliographyStacy C. Hollander and Gary Laderman, Securing the Shadow: Posthumous Portraiture in America (exh. cat. New York, NY: American Folk Art Museum, 2016), np.

Holly Pyne Connor; Sarah Burns; Barbara Dayer Gallati; Lauren Lessing, Angels and Tomboys: Girlhood in Nineteenth Century America (exh. cat. Portland, OR: Pomegranate, 2012), np.

Jennifer A. Yunginger, Is She or Isn’t He? Identifying Gender in Folk Portraits of Children (exh. cat. Massachusetts: Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, 1995), np.

Paul S. D'Ambrosio and Charlotte M. Emans, "Folk Art's Many Faces: Portraits in the New York State Historical Association,: Cooperstown, NYSHA, 1987, pp.112-116, illus. as no. 66 on p. 114.

Robert Charles Bishop, The All-American Dog-Man’s Best Friend in Folk Art (exh. cat. New York: Museum of American Folk Art, 1977), illus. on p. 31.

Agnes Halsey and Louis C.Jones, "New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic" [exhibition catalog], Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960: 20, numbers 32 and 33, illustrations 32 and 33.

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