A kneeling shirtless man is seen from behind. He had a pickaxe raised to strike the mine he is working.
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Miner, The

Adams, Kenneth Miller

1937

Artwork Information

  • Title:

    Miner, The

  • Artist:

    Adams, Kenneth Miller

  • Artist Bio:

    American, 1897–1996

  • Date:

    1937

  • Medium:

    Lithograph

  • Dimensions:

    15 1/8 x 9 3/8 inches

  • Credit Line:

    Wichita Art Museum, Gift of Mosby Lincoln Foundation

  • Object Number:

    2017.13.1

  • Display:

    Not Currently on Display

About the Artwork

In The Miner, Kenneth Miller Adams depicts a kneeling mine worker seen from behind. The worker’s bare back takes up most of the composition, a reminder that progress occurs only “on the backs of workers.” Adams—deeply influenced by European modernism’s geometrically faceted forms—depicts the miner’s back and arms muscles in abstracted planes. The print catches the worker in a moment of stillness before he swings his pickaxe, a window of calm before an explosion of strength.