66 http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukLegends
ofphotography
O
f all the legends
we’ve featured
in these pages,
it is perhaps
Lee Miller’s that is the most
fantastical, one so astonishing
it would be too ridiculous to
fabricate. As a creative force,
Lee Miller is without equal
in that she lived more lives
than seem possible for a single
person. Her life and career
saw her labelled as a fashion
icon, fashion photographer,Lee
Miller
photojournalist, war reporter,
surrealist, farmer, feminist
hero, muse and survivor.
Those labels will at times seem
contradictory but then Miller
was a restless individual who
understood the urgency of life.
Miller was around
photography from an early age.
Her father was an amateur
photographer who tirelessly
captured images of his
daughter from the age of eight
to twenty. It was perhaps thisled to her becoming Vogue’s
London fashion correspondent
and then, never one to be boxed
in, decided she would rather
focus on war reportage. Her
words and images are striking.
She was able to transfer her
surrealistic tendencies and
apply them to the eerie and
unreal scenes of Blitz bombings
and destruction. However, she
would never shy from the
realities of warfare. Some of
her images from this time are
tinged with horror and
revulsion, particularly in her
unflinching images of the
Dachau concentration camp.
One of the most striking
images of her career was taken
in Munich following US
occupation. Soon after Hitler’s
downfall, Miller found herself
in the dictator’s former
residence. Without a second
thought, Miller stripped down
and climbed into the bathtub
where she was photographed
taking a much-needed soak. It’s
an incredible image, one of
absolute defiance. It’s not too
much to say it stands as a
stirring comment on Miller’s
middle finger to the dictatorial
patriarchy, whether it’s Hitler
himself or the male-dominated
fields she would often occupy.
In later life, she lived on a
farm in Sussex, raising her son
Antony. It’s Antony who has
been instrumental in securing
Miller’s legacy. His tireless
eort preserving her work has
meant that we have a thorough
record of this most
extraordinary of lives. His
mother died of cancer in 1970.
It seems mundane when you
compare it to the rest of her
life, but then she rarely did
what was expected.Lee Miller showed the kind of vital
life that can be led when refusing to
be boxed in, writes Oliver Atwell
constant presence in front of
the lens that meant she was not
in the least flustered when
Condé Nast bumped into her in
Manhattan and immediately
snatched her up as a Vogue
model. Not long after, she
encountered the surrealist
artist Man Ray who took her as
his muse, model and lover.
It was through Ray’s
surrealist circle that she
encountered the artist and
filmmaker Jean Cocteau who
cast her in The Blood of Poet
(1932). Man Ray was so
jealous, the already fractious
relationship descended into
horrific abuse. Miller, already
frustrated by being a mere
object in front of the lens,
enacted her revenge: she
became a better artist than
Man Ray could ever hope to be.
Following some pioneering
work within the surrealist field,
she established herself as a
photographer by setting up a
photography studio and
photographing socialites. This© GETT Y IMAGES
© GETT Y IMAGES / LEE MILLERA fashion shoot by
Miller published
in the Picture Post
in 1950‘Miller enacted her
revenge: she became
a better artist than
Man Ray could ever
hope to be’