Lee Miller: Portraits from a Life

by Richard Calvocoressi

In 1929, Lee Miller, already a legendary fashion model, left the United States to study photography in Paris. Here she became the disciple and lover of Man Ray, and she was soon taking on both portrait and fashion assignments for Vogue and running her own studio. The Second World War saw her as Vogue 's war she covered the siege of Saint Malo, the liberation of Paris, and the entry of the U.S. Army into the Dachau concentration camp. Her later years were spent in London and Sussex with her husband, the painter and writer Roland Penrose. During her extraordinary life, Miller came into contact with an astonishing range of painters, sculptors, actors, writers, musicians, fashion designers, and socialites. Many became her friends and the subjects of her penetrating portraits. The finest of these photographs are collected together here, along with a selection of portraits of Miller herself, taken by other photographers. The images include not only Miller's highly perceptive and sympathetic studies of Pablo Picasso, Igor Stravinsky, Marlene Dietrich, Fred Astaire, and others but also her pictures of unsung individuals engaged in war work and powerful photographs of victims and perpetrators of Nazi oppression. 157 duotone illustrations.

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction, The United States Of America

176 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2002

Reviews

[Sotiris Makrygiannis]

A woman photographer that worked for Vogue magazine and as a war correspondent. Pictures include pre war, war and after war and mainly this book has images of her artists friends including Picasso. Picasso had a nice collection of pottery with patterns that were all over his house in order to inspire him. Many details one can find by observing pictures of others.

[Josie]

Amazing work that inspires and uplifts me.

[Jeff]

The beautiful Lee Miller, if only she had shot more self portraits.

[Leonard]

This is a collection of black and white photos by Lee Miller, a well known photographer. Miller photographed some of the most troubling images of the Holocaust. She also took many creative photos of famous people, for example Pablo Picasso, Dylan Thomas, Man Ray, Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Chevalier, and many more. This book contains primarily photos of these people and not many war photos. Miller was also a model for other photographers and artists.
There is a film about Miller currently in theatres, called "Lee" starring Kate Winslet as Miller. This excellent film is primarily about Miller in her efforts to get photos of the war. The photographs she took are an important record of that time in history, and both the film and book are worth seeing.

[reading is my hustle]

Iconoclasts make the world so much more interesting...

[Mariana]

Retratos con una increíble intensidad, y una vida sumamente interesante. Disfruté conocer acerca de Lee Miller.