The Awesome Photography of Lee Miller.

Post by **jones jones** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:29 pm

I only just came across this set of photographs by Lee Miller. Until now I was unaware of her or her awesome talent as a photographer. I will post some photo’s by this remarkable lady and then her biography.

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Post by **jones jones** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:31 pm

She also photographed the corpses of Nazis who preferred suicide to surrender after the Third Reich’s collapse, and this image demonstrates how cool and dispassionate was her reporting of such events. Rather than face the Russians, the whole family of the mayor of Leipzig killed themselves. The daughter, pictured here, might almost be asleep except for the distinctive rictus of death, which has slightly distorted her features. Miller’s own words describe the scene vividly:

"Leaning down on the sofa is a girl with extraordinarily pretty teeth, waxen and dusty. Her nurse’s uniform is sprinkled with plaster from the battle for the city hall which raged outside after their deaths."

Post by **jones jones** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:32 pm

Lee Miller, The suicided Burgermeister’s Family.

Post by **jones jones** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:34 pm

Lee Miller bathing in Adolf Hitler’s bath tub, Munich, 1945.

Post by **jones jones** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:38 pm

Miller was born in 1907 in Poughkeepsie, New York USA and first entered the world of photography in New York as a model to the great photographers of the day such as Edward Steichen, Hoyningen-Huene and Arnold Genthe.

In 1929 she went to Paris and worked with the well known Surrealist artist and photographer Man Ray, and succeeded in establishing her own studio. She became known as a portraitist and fashion photographer, but her most enduring body of work is that of her Surrealist images.

She returned to New York in 1932, and again set up her own studio which ran for 2 years and was highly successful. It closed when she married a wealthy Egyptian businessman Aziz Eloui Bey and went to live with him in Cairo, Egypt. She became fascinated by long range desert travel and photographed desert villages and ruins.

During a visit to Paris in 1937 she met Roland Penrose, the Surrealist artist who was to become her second husband, and travelled with him to Greece and Romania. In 1939 she left Egypt for London shortly before World War II broke out. She moved in with Roland Penrose and defying orders from the US Embassy to return to America she took a job as a freelance photographer on Vogue.

In 1944 she became a correspondent accredited to the US Army, and teamed up with Time Life photographer David E. Scherman. She followed the US troops overseas on 'D' Day + 20. She was probably the only woman combat photo-journalist to cover the war in Europe and among her many exploits she witnessed the siege of St Malo, the Liberation of Paris, the fighting in Luxembourg and Alsace, the Russian/American link up at Torgau, the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau.

She billeted in both Hitler and Eva Braun's houses in Munich, and photographed Hitler's house Wachenfeld at Berchtesgaden in flames on the eve of Germany's surrender. Penetrating deep into Eastern Europe, she covered harrowing scenes of children dying in Vienna, peasant life in post war Hungary and finally the execution of Prime Minister Lazlo Bardossy.

After the war she continued to work for Vogue for a further 2 years, covering fashion and celebrities. In 1947 she married Roland Penrose and contributed to his biographies of Picasso, Miro, Man Ray and Tapies. Some of her portraits of famous artists like Picasso are the most powerful portraits of the individuals ever produced, but it is mainly for the witty Surrealist images which permeate all her work that she is best remembered.

Lee Miller died at Farley Farm House in 1977.

AnneBoleyn · Post by **AnneBoleyn** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:46 pm

I am amazed that I never heard of Lee Miller. Of course, perhaps I did & forgot, along with most obscure things, but if so, thanks for reminding me! What a ground-breaking woman she was, daring to go, daring to do, accepting such great challenges. Her life was surreal! I want to learn more about her, kudos Mr. Jones. Very exciting discovery.

Something so creepy, poor dear--"Her father, Theodore Miller, an engineer, inventor and businessman, introduced Lee and her brothers, John and Erik, to photography from an early age. She was his model — with many stereoscopic photographs taken of a teenage Lee in the nude" and "When she was eight years old, she was raped while staying with a family friend in Brooklyn. Soon after, it was realized that Lee had contracted gonorrhea.[1][page needed] The rape (which she almost never discussed), had a life-long traumatizing effect upon her."--both quotes from Wikpedia. Gotta watch those avant-garde folks, their beliefs can be tricky.

Her life was as awesome as her photography.

tabby · Post by **tabby** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:04 pm

Haunting to see and fascinating to ponder. The beautiful German girl ... cyanide capsule perhaps? No outward physical trauma, it almost looks as though she's fallen asleep ... a bit too permanently perhaps but still asleep. Can anyone tell what the small object is on the arm of the couch?

Regarding the photo of Hitler's bathtub ... am I the only one here that doesn't keep a photo of themselves by the bathtub? :-3

AnneBoleyn · Post by **AnneBoleyn** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:10 pm

am I the only one here that doesn't keep a photo of themselves by the bathtub?

I noticed that too tabby. Not much about that guy makes any sense to me.