Customer Reviews

Lee Miller Photographer

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Lee Miller began as one of the most in-demand fashion models of the 20's and 30's. A friend and lover of Man Ray, she proved to be an extremely talented and inventive photographer (with Man Ray, she invented solarization). One of the most beautiful women who ever lived, her life is fascinating and, at times, shocking. In her youth, her father used her as a subject for his own nude studies. Later on, she proved to be a sexual free spirit whose associations tended toward the promiscuous. She has been to bed with many famous men and never allowed any man to dominate her. (Not for long, anyway.) As her looks faded, she turned more and more to photography and, as World War II came along, to photo journalism. There is no hint of femininity in her war work: Her images of death and destruction are just as stark and horrifying as those of any male photographer. After the war (and perhaps because...who knows?), she gave up photography almost entirely, devoting the last part of her life to family life and travel. Like her contemporary (also a photographic genius of the first rank) George Hoyningen-Huene, Lee Miller has almost been forgotten. Luckily, like Hoyningen-Huene, she is being rediscovered and what remains of her work is being lovingly presented in fine editions like this one. Another good work is "The Lives of Lee Miller" by her son, Anthony Penrose. I regard this book as a "must have" for anyone interested in the history and development of photography.