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Elizabeth "Lee" Miller, Lady Penrose (April 23, 1907 – July 21, 1977), was an American photographer and photojournalist. Miller was a fashion model in New York City in the 1920s before going to Paris, becoming a
fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...
and fine-art photographer there. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, she was a war correspondent for '' Vogue'', covering events such as the
London Blitz London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...
, the
liberation of Paris The liberation of Paris () was a battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Armisti ...
and the
concentration camps A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploit ...
at
Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...
and Dachau. Her reputation as an artist in her own right is due mostly to her son's discovery and promotion of her work as a fashion and war photographer.


Early life and education

Miller was born on April 23, 1907, in
Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Town of Poughkeepsie, New York (state), New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie i ...
. Her parents were Theodore and Florence Miller (née MacDonald). Her father was of German descent, and her mother was of Scottish and Irish descent. She had a younger brother named Erik, and her older brother was the aviator
Johnny Miller John Laurence Miller (born April 29, 1947) is an American former professional golfer. He was one of the top players in the world during the mid-1970s. He was the first to shoot 63 in a major championship to win the 1973 U.S. Open, and he ran ...
. Theodore always favored Lee, and often used her as a model for his amateur photography. When she was seven years old, Lee was raped while staying with a family friend in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
and was infected with
gonorrhea Gonorrhoea or gonorrhea, colloquially known as the clap, is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium ''Neisseria gonorrhoeae''. Infection may involve the genitals, mouth, or rectum. Gonorrhea is spread through sexual c ...
. In her childhood, Miller was expelled from almost every school she attended while living in the Poughkeepsie area. In 1925, aged 18, Miller moved to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
in France, where she studied lighting, costume, and design at the Ladislas Medgyes' School of Stagecraft. She returned to New York in 1926 and joined an experimental drama programme at
Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...
, taught by
Hallie Flanagan Hallie Flanagan Davis (August 27, 1889 – June 23, 1969) was an American theatrical producer and director, playwright, and author, best known as director of the Federal Theatre Project, a part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). B ...
, a pioneer of
experimental theatre Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Richard Wagner, Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu Roi, Ubu plays as a rejection of bot ...
. Soon after, Miller left home at 19 to enroll in the
Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...
in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
to study life drawing and painting.


Career


Modeling

Miller's father introduced her and her brothers to photography at an early age. She was his model – he took many stereoscopic photographs of his nude teenage daughter – and showed her technical aspects of the art. At 19 she nearly stepped in front of a car on a Manhattan street but was prevented by
Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Nast (businessman), Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the FiDi, Financial Dis ...
, the publisher of ''Vogue''. This incident helped launch her modeling career; she appeared in a blue hat and pearls in a drawing by George Lepape on the cover of ''Vogue'' on March 15, 1927. Miller's look was what ''Vogue'' then editor-in-chief
Edna Woolman Chase Edna Woolman Chase (; March 14, 1877 – March 21, 1957) was an American who served as editor-in-chief of '' Vogue'' magazine from 1914 to 1952. Early life Chase was born on March 14, 1877, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. She was the daughter of F ...
was looking for to represent the emerging idea of the "modern girl." For the next two years, Miller was one of the most sought-after models in New York, photographed by leading fashion photographers, including
Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (; March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter and curator and a pioneer of fashion photography. His gown images for the magazine ''Art et Décoration'' in 1911 were the first modern ...
, Arnold Genthe, Nickolas Muray, and George Hoyningen-Huene. Kotex used a photograph of Miller by Steichen to advertise their menstrual pads without her knowledge. She was hired by a fashion designer in 1929 to make drawings of fashion details in Renaissance paintings but, in time, grew tired of this and found photography more efficient.


Photography

In 1929, Miller traveled to Paris intending to apprentice with the
surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
artist and photographer
Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...
. Although, at first, he insisted that he did not take students, Miller soon became his model and collaborator (announcing to him, "I'm your new student"), as well as his lover and muse. Some photographs taken by Miller are credited to Man Ray. Along with Man Ray, Miller rediscovered the photographic technique of solarisation through an accident which has been variously described. One of Miller's accounts involved a mouse running over her foot, causing her to switch on the light in the
darkroom A darkroom is used to process photographic film, make Photographic printing, prints and carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light-sensitive photographic materials, including ...
in mid-development of the photograph. The couple made the technique a distinctive visual signature, examples being Man Ray's solarised portrait of Miller taken in Paris circa 1930, and Miller's portraits of fellow surrealist Meret Oppenheim (1930), Miller's friend Dorothy Hill (1933), and the silent film star Lilian Harvey (1933). Solarisation fits the
surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
principle of the unconscious accident being integral to art and evokes the style's appeal to the irrational or paradoxical in combining opposites of positive and negative. Mark Haworth-Booth describes solarisation as "a perfect surrealist medium in which positive and negative occur simultaneously, as if in a dream". Among Miller's friends were Duchess Solange d'Ayen–the fashion editor of French ''Vogue'',
Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
and fellow surrealists
Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...
and
Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
. Cocteau was so mesmerized by Miller's beauty that he transformed her into a plaster cast of a classical statue for his film, '' The Blood of a Poet'' (1930). During a dispute with Man Ray regarding the attribution of their co-produced work, Man Ray is said to have slashed an image of Miller's neck with a razor.Bukhari, Nuzhat; Amir Feshareki (2007). "Lee Miller's Ariadne Aesthetics," ''Modernism/Modernity,'' 14.1, pp. 147–152. ProQuest, March 2, 2017. After leaving Man Ray and Paris in 1932, Miller returned to New York City. She established a portrait and commercial photography studio (with $10,000 worth of backing from Christian R. Holmes II and Cliff Smith) with her brother Erik (who had worked for the fashion photographer Toni von Horn) as her darkroom assistant. Miller rented two apartments in a building one block from
Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...
. One of the apartments became her home, while the other became the Lee Miller Studio. Clients of the Lee Miller Studio included
BBDO BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, B ...
, Henry Sell,
Elizabeth Arden Elizabeth Arden (December 31, 1881 – October 18, 1966), also known as Elizabeth N. Graham, was a Canadian-American businesswoman who founded what is now Elizabeth Arden, Inc., and built a cosmetics empire in the United States. Backg ...
,
Helena Rubinstein Helena Rubinstein (born Chaja Rubinstein; December 25, 1872 – April 1, 1965) was a Polish and American businesswoman, art collector, and philanthropist. A cosmetics entrepreneur, she was the founder and eponym of Helena Rubinstein Incorporate ...
,
Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...
, I. Magnin and Co., and Jay Thorpe. During 1932, Miller was included in the ''Modern European Photography'' exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York and the
Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...
's exhibition ''International Photographers'' with
László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by Constructivism (art), con ...
,
Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as costume designer and set designer for stage and screen. His accolades ...
,
Margaret Bourke-White Margaret Bourke-White (; June 14, 1904 – August 27, 1971) was an American documentary photography, documentary photographer and photojournalist. She was known as an architectural and commercial photographer for the first half of her career, ...
, Tina Modotti,
Charles Sheeler Charles Sheeler (July 16, 1883 – May 7, 1965) was an American artist known for his Precisionism, Precisionist paintings, commercial photographer, commercial photography, and the 1921 avant-garde film, ''Manhatta'', which he made in collaboratio ...
, Man Ray, and
Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was an American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course ...
. In response to the exhibition, Katherine Grant Sterne wrote a review in ''Parnassus'' in March 1932, noting that Miller "has retained more of her American character in the Paris milieu. The very beautiful ''Bird Cages'' at Brooklyn; the study of a pink-nailed hand embedded in curly blond hair which is included in both the Brooklyn and the Julien Levy show; and the brilliant print of a white statue against a black drop, illuminating it rather than distort it." In 1933, Julien Levy gave Miller the only solo exhibition of her life. Among her portrait clients were the surrealist artist
Joseph Cornell Joseph Cornell (December 24, 1903 – December 29, 1972) was an American visual artist and filmmaker, one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. Influenced by the Surrealists, he was also an avant-garde experimental filmma ...
, actresses Lilian Harvey and
Gertrude Lawrence Gertrude Lawrence (4 July 1898 – 6 September 1952) was an English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York. Early life Lawrence was born in 1 ...
, and the African-American cast of the Virgil Thomson
Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...
opera '' Four Saints in Three Acts'' (1934). In 1934, Miller abandoned her studio to marry the Egyptian businessman and engineer Aziz Eloui Bey, who had come to New York City to buy equipment for the Egyptian National Railways. Although she did not work as a professional photographer during this period, the photographs she took while living in Egypt with Eloui, including ''Portrait of Space'', a desert landscape seen through a torn fly screen, are regarded as some of her most striking surrealist images. In
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
, Miller took a photograph of the desert near Siwa that Magritte saw and used as inspiration for his 1938 painting ''Le Baiser''. Miller also contributed an object to the ''Surrealist Objects and Poems'' exhibition at the London Gallery in 1934. By 1937, Miller had grown bored with her life in Cairo. She returned to Paris and went to a party the day she arrived, where she reconciled with Man Ray, and met the British surrealist painter and curator
Roland Penrose Sir Roland Algernon Penrose (14 October 1900 – 23 April 1984) was an English artist, historian and poet. He was a major promoter and collector of modern art and an associate of the surrealists in the United Kingdom. During the Second World ...
. Four of her photographs, "Egypt" (1939), "Roumania" (1938), "Libya" (1939), and "Sinai" (1939), were displayed at the Zwemmer Gallery's 1940 exhibition, ''Surrealism To-Day''. The
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
(MoMA) included her work in the exhibition ''Britain at War'' in New York City in 1941. No other exhibition would include her photographs until 1955, when she was included in the renowned '' The Family of Man'' exhibition curated by
Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (; March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter and curator and a pioneer of fashion photography. His gown images for the magazine ''Art et Décoration'' in 1911 were the first modern ...
, director of the MoMA Department of Photography.


World War II

At the outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Miller was living at Downshire Hill in
Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...
, London with Penrose when Germany's aerial bombardment of the city began. Ignoring pleas from friends and family to return to the U.S., Miller embarked on a new career in
photojournalism Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...
as the official war photographer for ''Vogue'', documenting what became known as
the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
. Because the British Army would not let her accompany them, she managed to be accredited with the U.S. Army instead as a
war correspondent A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war, war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the wor ...
for
Condé Nast Publications Condé is a French place name and personal name. It is ultimately derived from a Celtic word, "Condate", meaning "confluence" (of two rivers) - from which was derived the Romanised form "Condatum", in use during the Roman period, and thence to ...
from December 1942. Miller's first article for British ''Vogue'' was on nurses at an army base in
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
. She took portraits of nurses across Europe, including those on the front lines and prisoners of war. Following the
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
invasion of France in 1944, Miller was tasked with reporting on what she was told was the newly-liberated town of
Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo language, Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany. The Fortification, walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth ...
. She traveled there only to find that the town was still being heavily fought over. Miller's military accreditation as a female war correspondent did not allow her to enter an active combat zone, but rather than leave she decided to stay, and spent five days on the front lines photographing as much of the
Battle of Saint-Malo The Battle of Saint-Malo was fought between Allies of World War II, Allied and German forces for control of the French coastal town of Saint-Malo in Brittany during World War II. The battle was part of the Allied breakout across France and took ...
as she could. Her photographs included the first recorded use of
napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated aluminium ...
. When the military authorities realized where she was, they put Miller under temporary
house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...
and placed strict limits on her movements. While she was working with ''Vogue'' during World War II, Miller's goal was to "document war as historical evidence".Hilditch, L. "Believe It! Lee Miller's Second World War Photographs as Modern Memorials." ''Journal of War & Culture Studies,'' July 3, 2018, 11(3), pp. 209–222. Her work provided "context for events" and "an eye-witness account" of the casualties of war. Miller's work was very specific and surrealist, like her previous publications and modelling with ''Vogue''. She spent time composing her photographs, famously framing some from inside the cattle trains that had transported thousands of Jews to Nazi death camps. Miller's work with ''Vogue'' during wartime was often a combination of journalism and art, sometimes manipulated to evoke emotion. Miller teamed up with American photojournalist David E. Scherman, a ''Life'' magazine correspondent, on many assignments, including the
liberation of Paris The liberation of Paris () was a battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Armisti ...
, the Battle of Alsace, and the horrors of the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
s at
Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...
and Dachau. Scherman's iconic photograph of Miller sitting in the bathtub in Adolf Hitler's private apartment in Munich, with the dried mud of that morning's visit to Dachau on her boots deliberately dirtying Hitler's bathroom, was taken in the evening on 30 April 1945, coincidentally the same day that Hitler committed suicide. After posing for the bathtub photograph, Miller took a bath in the tub, and then slept in Hitler's bed. She was also photographed in Eva Braun's bed. During this period, Miller photographed dying children in a Vienna hospital, peasant life in post-war Hungary, corpses of Nazi officers and their families, and finally, the execution of former Hungarian Prime Minister László Bárdossy. After the war, she continued working for ''Vogue'' for another two years, covering fashion and celebrities. At the war's end, Miller's work as a wartime photojournalist continued as she sent
telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
s back to the British ''Vogue'' editor, Audrey Withers, urging her to publish photographs from the camps. She did this following a CBS broadcast from Buchenwald by
Edward R. Murrow Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American Broadcast journalism, broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broa ...
, and
Richard Dimbleby Frederick Richard Dimbleby (25 May 1913 – 22 December 1965) was an English journalist and broadcaster who became the BBC's first war correspondent and then its leading TV news commentator. As host of the long-running current affairs pro ...
's BBC broadcast from inside
Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...
. This was in consequence of people's disbelief at such atrocities, when these broadcasters urged photographers to do what they could to show the public what they saw.


Life in Britain

After returning to Britain from central Europe, Miller suffered severe episodes of
clinical depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Intro ...
which her son believes was due to
post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...
(PTSD). He also described her alcoholism and recovery from alcohol abuse in his 1985
biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...
, ''The Lives of Lee Miller.'' In November 1946, Miller was commissioned by British ''Vogue'' to illustrate an article titled, "When
James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...
Lived in Dublin", by Joyce's old friend and confidant Constantine Curran. Following a list given to her by Curran, Miller photographed numerous places and people in Dublin, many with a connection to Joyce. The article and photographs appeared in American ''Vogue'' in May 1947 and British ''Vogue'' in 1950. The photos provide a remarkable record of Joyce's hometown and Dublin during that time. In 1946, Miller travelled with Roland Penrose to the United States, where she visited Man Ray in California. After she discovered she was pregnant by Penrose, she divorced Bey and, on May 3, 1947, married Penrose. Their only son,
Antony Penrose Antony William Roland Penrose (born 9 September 1947) is a British photographer. The son of Sir Roland Penrose and Lee Miller, Penrose is director of the Lee Miller Archive and Penrose Collection at his parents' former home, Farley Farm Hous ...
, was born on September 9, 1947. In 1949, the couple bought Farley Farm House in Chiddingly, East Sussex. During the 1950s and 1960s, Farley Farm became a sort of artistic Mecca for visiting artists such as Picasso, Man Ray,
Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...
, Eileen Agar,
Jean Dubuffet Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (; 31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor of the School of Paris, École de Paris (School of Paris). His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" a ...
, Dorothea Tanning, and
Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...
. While Miller continued to do the occasional photo shoot for ''Vogue'', she soon discarded the darkroom for the kitchen, becoming a gourmet cook. According to her housekeeper Patsy, she specialized in "historical food" like roast
suckling pig A suckling pig is a Piglet (animal), piglet fed on its pig milk, mother's milk (i.e., a piglet which is still a "suckling"). In culinary contexts, a suckling pig is Animal slaughter, slaughtered between the ages of two and six weeks. It is trad ...
as well as treats such as marshmallows in a cola sauce (especially made to annoy English critic
Cyril Connolly Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine ''Horizon (British magazine), Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote ''Enemies of Pro ...
who told her Americans didn't know how to cook). She also provided photographs for her husband's biographies of Picasso and
Antoni Tàpies Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tápies, Marquess of Tàpies (; 13 December 1923 – 6 February 2012) was a Catalans, Catalan painter, sculptor, and art theorist. Life The son of Josep Tàpies i Mestre and Maria Puig i Guerra, Antoni T ...
. However, images from the war, especially of the concentration camps, continued to haunt her, and she started on what her son later described as a "downward spiral". Her depression may have been accelerated by her husband's long affair with the trapeze artist Diane Deriaz. Miller was investigated by the British security service
MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
during the 1940s and 1950s, on suspicion of being a
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
spy. In October 1969, Miller was asked in an interview with a ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reporter what drew her to photography. Her response was that it was "a matter of getting out on a damn limb and sawing it off behind you".


Death

Miller died of lung cancer at Farley Farm House in 1977, aged 70. She was cremated, and her ashes were spread through her herb garden at Farley.


Legacy

Miller's work has served as inspiration for Gucci's Frida Giannini, Ann Demeulemeester, and
Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen (brand), Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His ac ...
. Playwright David Hare comments, "Today, when the mark of a successful iconographer is to offer craven worship of wealth, or yet more craven worship of power and celebrity, it is impossible to imagine an artist of Lee's subtlety and humanity commanding the resources of a mass-market magazine." Mark Haworth-Booth, curator of ''The Art of Lee Miller'', has said "her photographs shocked people out of their comfort zone" and that "she had a chip of ice in her heart... she got very close to things...
Margaret Bourke-White Margaret Bourke-White (; June 14, 1904 – August 27, 1971) was an American documentary photography, documentary photographer and photojournalist. She was known as an architectural and commercial photographer for the first half of her career, ...
was far away from the fighting, but Lee was close. That's what makes the difference—Lee was prepared to shock." In 1932, for the ''Poughkeepsie Evening Star'', Miller stated that photography was "perfectly suited to women as a profession... it seems to me that women have a bigger chance at success in photography than men... women are quicker and more adaptable than men. And I think they have an intuition that helps them understand personalities more quickly than men." Throughout her life, Miller did very little to promote her photographic work. That Miller's work is known today is mainly due to the efforts of her son, Antony Penrose, who has been studying, conserving, and promoting his mother's work since the early 1980s. He discovered sixty thousand or so photographs, negatives, documents, journals, cameras, love letters, and souvenirs in cardboard boxes and trunks in Farley Farm's attic after his mother's death. He owns the house and offers tours of the works of Miller and Penrose. The house is home to the private collections of Miller and Penrose, their work, and some of their favourite art pieces. In the dining room, the fireplace was decorated in vivid colours by Penrose. Her pictures are accessible at the ''Lee Miller Archives''. In 1985, Penrose published the first biography of Miller, entitled ''The Lives of Lee Miller''. Since then, a number of books, mostly accompanying exhibitions of her photographs, have been written by art historians and writers such as Jane Livingstone, Richard Calvocoressi, and Haworth-Booth. Penrose and David Scherman collaborated on the book ''Lee Miller's War: Photographer and Correspondent With the Allies in Europe 1944–45'', in 1992. Interviews with Penrose form the core of the 1995 documentary ''Lee Miller: Through the Mirror'', made with Scherman and writer-director Sylvain Roumette. The audiobook ''Surrealism Reviewed'' was published in 2002, and a 1946 radio interview with Miller can be heard on it.Missing ref. A
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
was attached to Miller's and Penrose's residence at 21 Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London. In 2005, Miller's life story was turned into a musical, ''Six Pictures of Lee Miller'', with music and lyrics by British composer Jason Carr. It premiered at the
Chichester Festival Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Mart ...
,
West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...
. Also in 2005, Carolyn Burke's substantial biography, ''Lee Miller, A Life'', was published. In 2007, ''Traces of Lee Miller: Echoes from St. Malo'', an interactive CD and DVD about Miller's war photography in St. Malo, was released with the support of Hand Productions and Sussex University. In 2015, an exhibition of Miller's photographs at the
Scottish National Portrait Gallery National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collec ...
, ''Lee Miller and Picasso'', focussed "on the relationship between Lee Miller, Roland Penrose and Pablo Picasso". Two works of historical fiction, that build their stories around Miller's life, work, and relationship with Man Ray in Paris circa 1930, were a book written by Dana Gynther titled ''The Woman in the Photograph,'' published in 2015, and ''The Age of Light'', by Whitney Scharer, released in 2019. Penrose's 1985 biography of Miller was the basis for the 2023 film by
Ellen Kuras Ellen Kuras (born July 10, 1959) is an American cinematographer whose work includes narrative and documentary films, music videos and commercials in both the studio and independent worlds. One of few female members of the American Society of Cin ...
, '' Lee'', with
Kate Winslet Kate Elizabeth Winslet (; born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. Primarily known for her roles as headstrong and complicated women in independent films, particularly period dramas, she has received numerous accolades, including an Ac ...
starring as Miller. Most of the movie shows Miller during World War II, depicting the occasions for some of her most well known pictures from the Blitz, the liberation of Paris, and the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps, and including a glimpse into the relationships with main characters in her life, such as her colleague photojournalist David Scherman, British ''Vogue'' editor Audrey Withers, and her husband Roland Penrose. In the 2024 film ''
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
'' by
Alex Garland Alexander Medawar Garland (born 26 May 1970) is an English author, screenwriter, and director. He rose to prominence with his novel '' The Beach'' (1996). He received praise for writing the Danny Boyle films '' 28 Days Later'' (2002) and '' Sun ...
, Miller was referred to as a role model for
Kirsten Dunst Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the anthology film ''New York Stories'' (1989) and has since starred in several film and television productions. She has received several awar ...
's character, Lee Smith, who is a famed war photographer in much the same way as Miller and has the same first name.


Exhibitions

* 2001: ''Roland Penrose and Lee Miller: The Surrealist and the Photographer'', Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh * 2007: ''The Art of Lee Miller'',
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
, London * 2015: ''Lee Miller and Picasso'', Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh * 2015/16: ''Lee Miller'', Albertina, Vienna ** Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale **
Berliner Festspiele The Berliner Festspiele (German language, German for Berlin Festivals) in Berlin organise and stage a large number of independent festivals as well as exhibitions and individual events in the fields of music, theatre, performance, dance, literat ...
:
Martin-Gropius-Bau Martin-Gropius-Bau, commonly known as Gropius Bau, is an important exhibition space in Berlin, Germany. Originally a museum of applied arts, the building has been a listed historical monument since 1966. It is located at 7 Niederkirchnerstraße ...
, Berlin * 2018/19: ''Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain'', The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield **
Fundació Joan Miró The Fundació Joan Miró ( ; English: Joan Miró Foundation, Centre of Studies of Contemporary Art) is a modern art museum honoring the life and work of the Spanish artist Joan Miró, located on the hill called Montjuïc in Barcelona, Catalonia ( ...
, BarcelonaPress release (PDF)
for the exhibition at Fundació Joan Miró. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
* 2023/24:
Surrealist Lee Miller
',
Heide Museum of Modern Art The Heide Museum of Modern Art, also known as Heide, is an art museum in Bulleen, Victoria, Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum exhibits modern art, modern and contemporary a ...
, Melbourne * 2024: ''Lee Miller: A Photographer at Work (1932–1945)'', The Image Centre, Toronto * 2024: ''Lee Miller, Saint-Malo under Siege August 1944'', Sainte-Victoire Chapel, Saint-Malo * 2025: ''Lee Miller in Print'', FOMU, Antwerp


Bibliography

* * * ** Paperback edition (2007): University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-22608067-6. * * * * * * * * * * * ** Paperback edition (1988): ISBN 0-500-27509-2 (several printings). ** New pb. edition (2021): ISBN 978-0-500-29428-4. ** New pb. edition (2024): on occasion of the release of the film '' Lee,'' with
Kate Winslet Kate Elizabeth Winslet (; born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. Primarily known for her roles as headstrong and complicated women in independent films, particularly period dramas, she has received numerous accolades, including an Ac ...
on cover. ISBN 978-0-500-29752-0. * * * * * * ** (1980): London: Arts Council of Great Britain, ISBN 0-7287-0235-5. ** (2003): Oxford: Oxford University Press, Los Angeles: Getty Publications, ISBN 0-89236-716-4. ** (2021): Muddles Green, Sussex: Lee Miller Archives, ISBN 978-0-95323899-6. * * * * * *


References


External links


Lee Miller Archives official site


Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

Farleys House and Gallery official site
* – article discussing the relationship between Miller and Picasso
Lee Miller Research Guide
– Offering a new perspective on the Lee Miller story. {{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Lee 1907 births 1977 deaths Art Students League of New York alumni 20th-century American photographers American artists' models American expatriates in the United Kingdom American photojournalists American fine art photographers Muses (persons) Photographers from New York (state) People from Poughkeepsie, New York Photography in Egypt Photography in Germany American surrealist artists American war photographers American war correspondents of World War II American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American people of Scottish descent American women surrealist artists 20th-century American women photographers American women photojournalists American women war correspondents Female models from New York (state) Journalists from New York (state) Vogue (magazine) people Deaths from lung cancer in England