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| Elizabeth "Lee" Miller |
Background
1. Parents were Theodore and Florence Miller
- Had 2 brothers one younger(Erik) and older(John)
- Raped
- About 7 yrs old
- Contracted gonorrhea
- Attended L’Ecole Medgyes pour la Techique du Thtre
Professional Life
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| March 1927 Vogue edition |
- Was photographed by father
- Vogue
- Age 19 stopped from walking in front of car Manhattan by Conde Nast
- Conde Nast is the founder of Vogue
- Launched her modeling career
- She appeared on the cover of March 1927 edition of Vogue
- Illustration by George Lepape
- For next 2yrs she was one of the most sought after models
- Photographed by Edward Steichen, Arnold Genthe, Nickolas Murray
- Numerous appearances in magazines
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| Fashion image taken by Lee Miller |
- She traveled to Paris to apprentice herself to surrealist artist Man Ray
- Became apprentice, lover, and muse
- Began her own photographic studio
- Took over Man Ray’s fashion assignments so he can concentrate on painting
- Many of photos credited to Man Ray are believed to be Lee’s
- Together with Man Ray she rediscovered technique solarisation
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| Solarisation |
- Active participant in surrealist movement
- Her friends included Pablo Picasso, Paul Eluard, and Jean Cocteau
- Left Man Ray and Paris 1932
- Returned to New York and established portrait and commercial photography studio
- With brother Erik
- Included in Modern European Photography exhibition at Julien Levy Gallery
- 1933 Levy gave Miller the only solo exhibition of her life
- Portraits of Joseph Cornell, actresses Lilian Harvey and Gertrude Lawrence
- Also African American cast of Virgil Thomson-Gertrude Stein opera
- Abandoned her studio to marry Egyptian businessman
- Married Aziz Eloui Bey
- Photographs from Egypt regarded some of her most striking surrealist images
- Lee grew tired of Cairo and returned to Paris
- Met future husband British surrealist painter and curator Roland Penrose
- Photos were not in exhibition until 1955
- Work displayed in The Family of Man
- In Museum of Modern Art
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| A chapel after bombing |
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| Miller in Army uniform |
- Miller was living in Hapstead, London during outbreak of World War II with Roland
- Was there when bombing began
- Miller embarked on a new career in photojournalism
- Official war photographer for Vogue
- Documented the Blitz(September 6, 1940-May 10, 1941)
- Accredited into the U.S Army as a war correspondent for Conde Nast Publications
- Teamed up with American photographer David E. Scherman
- She traveled to France less than a month after D-Day and recorded
- first use of napalm at the siege of St. Malo
- the liberation of Paris
- battle for Alsace
- horror of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau
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| Miller in Hitler's bathtub |
- Photograph by Scherman of Miller in Hitler’s bathtub one of most ironic image
- Miller also photographed
- Dying children in a Vienna Hospital
- Peasant life in post war Hungary
- Execution of Prime Minister Laszlo Bardossy
- Continued to work for Vogue for 2 more years covering fashion and celebrities
- Lee started to suffer from severe episode of clinical depression
- Began to drink heavily
- Uncertain of her future
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| Farley Farm House Fashion photo by Miller |
- 1946 she traveled with Roland to the U.S
- Visited Man Ray in California
- She discovered she was pregnant with her only son Antony
- She divorced Bey
- 1947 married Roland
- In 1949 they bought Farley Farm House in Sussex
- Farley Farm House artistic Mecca for visiting artists
- Miller continued to do occasional photo shoot for Vogue
- Started to drop photography
- Her war experience had harsh effects on her health and her relationship with family
- Miller died of cancer at Farley Farm House in Chiddingly, East Sussex
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| Lee Miller Biography |
Significance and Importance
- She recorded some of the most surrealistic images
- Her life story was turned into a musical Six Pictures of Lee Miller with music and lyrics
- By Jason Carr
- Premiered at the Chichester Festival Theater
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