"The Woman of Violence: She Delivers 81 Smacks in the Eye," Star (London), February 23, 1959. This article about the Museum's circulating exhibition The New American Painting includes a picture of Dorothy Miller, Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, the show's organizer. International Council/International Program Exhibition Records. The New American Painting: V.ICE-F-36-57.13. MoMA Archives
Miller, a curator of painting and sculpture, organized six legendary
Americans exhibitions at the Museum between 1942 and 1963. Designed to showcase recent trends in American art, as a series they reflected and promoted what Miller saw as the best work of the day. In 1952 her exhibition
15 Americans debuted Abstract Expressionism at the Museum, bringing the innovations of the New York School to a (somewhat hostile) mass audience for the first time. In 1956 Miller organized
12 Americans, giving voice to the apostles of the Abstract Expressionists, the second generation of the New York School. In 1958–59 her traveling exhibition
The New American Painting proclaimed the radicalism of American abstraction throughout Europe, propelling the artists onto the international scene—it was "the equivalent of the Armory show in reverse," collector Ben Heller said. Perhaps the most radical of Miller's
Americans exhibitions was
16 Americans, of 1959–60. This historic exhibition featured the next generation of American artists—those whose work, departing from Abstract Expressionism, led to the Neo-Dada, Minimalism, and Pop art of the latter decades of the century. In addition to her discerning eye and uncanny ability to scout new talent, Miller was distinctive in her approach to exhibition installation. "What you try to achieve," she said, "are climaxes—introduction, surprise, going around the corner and seeing something unexpected, perhaps several climaxes with very dramatic things, then a quiet tapering off with something to let you out alive." Miller retired from the Museum in 1969.