Nationality United States Name J. Miller | Role Graphic artist | |
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Born 1918 United States Notable work the "We Can Do It!" poster Died 2004, Dallas, Texas, United States Education The Art Institute of Pittsburgh | ||
J. Howard Miller (1918–2004) was an American graphic artist. He painted posters during World War II in support of the war effort, among them the famous "We Can Do It!" poster, frequently misidentified as Rosie the Riveter.
Painting the poster
Miller studied at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1939. He lived in Pittsburgh during the war. His work came to the attention of the Westinghouse Company (later, the Westinghouse War Production Co-Ordinating Committee), and he was hired to create a series of posters. The posters were sponsored by the company's internal War Production Co-Ordinating Committee, one of the hundreds of labor-management committees organized under the supervision of the national War Production Board.
Miller may have based the "We Can Do It!" poster on a United Press International (UPI) a supposedly picture taken of Geraldine Doyle working at a factory in Michigan, but in recent years it is said to be a picture of Naomi Fraley nee Parker in 1942 in California. At the time of the poster's release the name "Rosie" was not associated with the picture; that came after 1982 when the poster was rediscovered in the US National Archives.
