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Grim Glory: Lee Miller’s Britain at War
Arriving in Britain just as war was declared, Lee Miller, an American with no permit to work, used her camera as her principle means of combat during World War II. Before Miller left Britain to report in Europe, she covered the Blitz, taking pictures of Britain under fire and capturing civilians braving the destruction around them. Her images portrayed their contributions to the war effort as well as wartime fashion, camouflage, and the women in the armed forces on the home front.
Grim Glory , curated by the Lee Miller Archives, features fifty of Lee Miller’s stunning works of photography in Britain during the war, accompanied by an essay by Ami Bouhassane, the granddaughter of Lee Miller and Roland Penrose.
Grim Glory , curated by the Lee Miller Archives, features fifty of Lee Miller’s stunning works of photography in Britain during the war, accompanied by an essay by Ami Bouhassane, the granddaughter of Lee Miller and Roland Penrose.
100 pages, Paperback
Published February 8, 2021
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February 13, 2024
The first part of Lee Miller's War
This is the fourth in a series of reviews I'm posting in Goodreads of books about the multi-talented photographer, artist and journalist Lee Miller who was brought to my attention late last year when Kate Winslet began promoting her movie, Lee. And, while that film still has not been widely released in the U.S., as a lifelong journalist myself, I've made it one of my early 2024 goals to promote a wider awareness of this remarkable professional.
I explained my Lee Miller mission in more detail in my earlier review of Lee Miller: A Life . I also reviewed Lee Miller: Photographs in which Antony Penrose collaborated with Kate Winslet. Then, I actually began reviewing books about Lee Miller's work during World War II out of sequence by reviewing Lee Miller's War: Beyond D-Day that really covers the second part of Lee's experiences during that war.
In fact, as the Lee Miller Archives conceived of covering her extensive body of work during World War II, this team started with this book I'm reviewing now—Ami Bouhassane's Grim Glory: Lee Miller's Britain at War. That's essentially the first of the two main books covering Miller's work starting in 1939, when Britain entered World War II. I do wish her archival team had labeled these books more clearly so that eager readers like me could more easily discern how to chronologically follow her life. And, I'm also giving this book 4 out of 5 stars because it's a smaller format than Beyond D-Day. I certainly wish I could see these "part one" wartime photos as large as some of the images in that second book.
Despite those quibbles, this book is still a memorable slice of history. The title is an homage to a book that was produced as part of the British campaign to convince Americans to come to their aid in the war. For those who can't quite recall the history, WWII is usually described as starting with the September 1, 1939, German invasion of Poland that caused allies to respond—even though some historians point out that the related Japanese war in China began at least two years earlier. Then, the U.S. did not fully join the war until after the December 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor, although the U.S. was involved in the war effort in many ways before that.
So, where does Lee Miller emerge on this complex global stage? Well, she had been living with her wealthy husband in Egypt for a portion of the 1930s, but found herself bored with their life there. She already was restless and she decided to leave him—apparently in a relatively amicable separation—to jump into the war effort in Britain. She arrived there in the summer of 1939. She had some financial resources from her marriage, plus she returned to her work as a high-fashion photographer. But, her real passion was the effort to alert the world to the dangers posed by Hitler's conquest of Europe. By 1940, German bombs were falling on Britain and "the Blitz" rained terror on the civilian population. That was a huge news story for a journalist and, at that point in her life, she already was making the transition from fashion and the fine arts to journalism. (You can read more about that in my After D-Day review.)
When she decided to pitch into the campaign to rouse Americans, Miller's first big effort was providing dramatic photographs for a 1941 book, published in Britain as Grim Glory and in the U.S. under the alternate title Bloody but Unbowed. If you're even more of a Lee Miller aficionado than I am, I can tell you that original copies of both books are listed by various sellers on ebay for roughly $75 to more than $100. That's a little too steep for my level of interest. I paid $15.85 for my paperback copy of this compact-sized book that contains the photos Miller contributed to those 1941 books.
Plus, there's so much more in this book. This new compilation also contains some of Miller's fashion photography from those pre-D-Day years in Britain, which may seem a little unsettling, considering the vast bloodshed in the bombing of Britain. Still, those photos for Vogue are quite striking in their own right. Plus, this book includes some of the photographs Miller made for a rarely seen wartime publication in Britain on the heroic service of the "Wrens," more properly known as Women's Royal Naval Service.
I'm very pleased to add this volume to the World War II section of our home library. I do wish it was the same size as After D-Day to see the images more clearly and so the two volumes seem more like a set. But overall, I'm so glad it's available now.
This is the fourth in a series of reviews I'm posting in Goodreads of books about the multi-talented photographer, artist and journalist Lee Miller who was brought to my attention late last year when Kate Winslet began promoting her movie, Lee. And, while that film still has not been widely released in the U.S., as a lifelong journalist myself, I've made it one of my early 2024 goals to promote a wider awareness of this remarkable professional.
I explained my Lee Miller mission in more detail in my earlier review of Lee Miller: A Life . I also reviewed Lee Miller: Photographs in which Antony Penrose collaborated with Kate Winslet. Then, I actually began reviewing books about Lee Miller's work during World War II out of sequence by reviewing Lee Miller's War: Beyond D-Day that really covers the second part of Lee's experiences during that war.
In fact, as the Lee Miller Archives conceived of covering her extensive body of work during World War II, this team started with this book I'm reviewing now—Ami Bouhassane's Grim Glory: Lee Miller's Britain at War. That's essentially the first of the two main books covering Miller's work starting in 1939, when Britain entered World War II. I do wish her archival team had labeled these books more clearly so that eager readers like me could more easily discern how to chronologically follow her life. And, I'm also giving this book 4 out of 5 stars because it's a smaller format than Beyond D-Day. I certainly wish I could see these "part one" wartime photos as large as some of the images in that second book.
Despite those quibbles, this book is still a memorable slice of history. The title is an homage to a book that was produced as part of the British campaign to convince Americans to come to their aid in the war. For those who can't quite recall the history, WWII is usually described as starting with the September 1, 1939, German invasion of Poland that caused allies to respond—even though some historians point out that the related Japanese war in China began at least two years earlier. Then, the U.S. did not fully join the war until after the December 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor, although the U.S. was involved in the war effort in many ways before that.
So, where does Lee Miller emerge on this complex global stage? Well, she had been living with her wealthy husband in Egypt for a portion of the 1930s, but found herself bored with their life there. She already was restless and she decided to leave him—apparently in a relatively amicable separation—to jump into the war effort in Britain. She arrived there in the summer of 1939. She had some financial resources from her marriage, plus she returned to her work as a high-fashion photographer. But, her real passion was the effort to alert the world to the dangers posed by Hitler's conquest of Europe. By 1940, German bombs were falling on Britain and "the Blitz" rained terror on the civilian population. That was a huge news story for a journalist and, at that point in her life, she already was making the transition from fashion and the fine arts to journalism. (You can read more about that in my After D-Day review.)
When she decided to pitch into the campaign to rouse Americans, Miller's first big effort was providing dramatic photographs for a 1941 book, published in Britain as Grim Glory and in the U.S. under the alternate title Bloody but Unbowed. If you're even more of a Lee Miller aficionado than I am, I can tell you that original copies of both books are listed by various sellers on ebay for roughly $75 to more than $100. That's a little too steep for my level of interest. I paid $15.85 for my paperback copy of this compact-sized book that contains the photos Miller contributed to those 1941 books.
Plus, there's so much more in this book. This new compilation also contains some of Miller's fashion photography from those pre-D-Day years in Britain, which may seem a little unsettling, considering the vast bloodshed in the bombing of Britain. Still, those photos for Vogue are quite striking in their own right. Plus, this book includes some of the photographs Miller made for a rarely seen wartime publication in Britain on the heroic service of the "Wrens," more properly known as Women's Royal Naval Service.
I'm very pleased to add this volume to the World War II section of our home library. I do wish it was the same size as After D-Day to see the images more clearly and so the two volumes seem more like a set. But overall, I'm so glad it's available now.
Displaying 1 of 1 review