OVERVIEW

Renée E. Rubin Miller (9 November, 1929 - 8 March, 2025) was an American painter, sculptor, and abstract expressionist. She exhibited her Abstract Expressionist works at the Reuben Gallery, Martha Jackson Gallery, and later, at the Grey Art Gallery at NYU where her work appeared in “Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952-1965”, a retrospective at the Grey Art Gallery in 2017.

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

Miller was born in Brooklyn, New York. She received formal training from major institutions, including the New York School of Painting & Sculpture, Hans Hofmann School of Fine Art, National Academy of Design, Ogunquit School of Painting and Sculpture, Nicolai Abracheff School of Fine Art, Brooklyn Museum Art School, and the Harry Engel School of Art in Provincetown, MA.

ARTISTIC CAREER

Miller began exhibiting in New York City in the late 1950’s and was a member of the Reuben Gallery, known for hosting Happenings and experimental environments. Miller was part of the artistic milieu that included Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg, Red Grooms, Jim Dine, and Martha Edelheit. Miller’s early works were shown in exhibitions such as ‘New Forms, New Media’ at the Martha Jackson Gallery in 1963 and ‘Eleven from the Reuben Gallery’ at the Guggenheim Museum in 1965. Her work was prominently featured in Allan Kaprow’s ‘Assemblages, Environments, & Happenings’.

After a prolific early period, Miller continued to produce work privately, and returned to public exhibitions in the late 1990s. Through the 2000s and 2010s she exhibited regularly at Pleiades Gallery in Manhattan. Renewed scholarly interest in Miller’s work followed her inclusion in 2023? at Melissa Rachleff’s “Inventing Downtown: : Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952–1965”, at NYU’s Grey Art Gallery.