There was a time when not many people had heard of the name Lee Miller, and if it were up to Miller, it would have stayed that way. Only after her death and a discovery in an attic did we piece together her life’s work. Now one of the most celebrated photographers of the 20th century and the basis of the biographical film Lee, which hit UK cinemas in September, it is astounding to think that Lee Miller (and her life) nearly disappeared into oblivion.
The Lesser-Known Model
Curiously, Miller’s relationship with photography began in front of the camera, not behind it. Posing as her father’s muse as a child was her first encounter with photography as a model. It would certainly not be the last.
In a cinematic twist of fate, Miller was stopped from walking in front of a car in Manhattan. Who stopped her? None other than Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue. This catapulted Miller into the supermodel stratosphere. She ended up on the cover of Vogue at 19. She embodied the “Modern Girl” look that the magazine’s then editor-in-chief Edna Woodman Chase had been searching for in the late twenties.
For two fruitful years, Lee Miller was one of the most sought-after models in New York. Then, a photo of her was used to advertise menstrual pads. This photo, used without her consent, dealt her a career-ending blow, and Miller’s time as a model ended as dramatically as it had begun. Instead of resigning herself to the fate of a cautionary tale, Miller picked up a camera herself.
More Than A Muse
After the end of her modeling career, Miller traveled to Paris with the intent of studying under Surrealist photographer Man Ray. She was seeking photography lessons, and he was uninterested in a new protégé. Despite this, when they met, she simply told him, “I’m your new student”, and their tempestuous relationship began.
Their relationship was steeped in creativity. Miller would take over Ray’s fashion assignments to allow him time to focus on painting. Their close collaboration blurred the lines of credit; often, Miller’s work was credited as Man Ray’s. This entanglement of creative endeavors caused disputes, such as Man Ray once slashing a photograph of Miller’s neck with a razor blade over a co-produced work.
By the end of the affair in 1932, when she left Paris, Lee Miller was a photographer in her own right. That same year, the Modern European Photography exhibition in New York included her alongside her former lover. When she next returned to Paris in 1937, she met her future husband, British surrealist painter Roland Penrose. The couple vacationed in the South of France with fellow artists; Man Ray was one of them.
Miller always spoke warmly of her teacher-slash-lover, stating in 1941 that Ray “believed that every advance in his medium should be made accessible to every other artist and generously told how he achieved his effects.” Equally, the work which Man Ray produced in the throes of despair after Miller’s departure are still considered “some of the most memorable pieces of his career.” The effect they had on each other (as people and as artists) was undoubtedly profound.
Lee’s War in London
When World War II broke out, Miller was living in London with Penrose. The Blitz began in 1940, but Miller ignored friends and family’s pleas for her to return to the U.S. Instead she picked up her camera.
With that, she became the official war photographer for Vogue, documenting war-torn London as a photojournalist. According to a piece on Miller’s legacy by the Smithsonian, the photographs she took during this period “helped Vogue change its reputation and grow into an outlet for serious news.”
Miller’s penchant for surrealism made for fascinating, informative photo essays capturing the emotions of war through art. Her photographic eye meant that she carefully composed images when she could in order to increase their impact. As the war in mainland Europe erupted, the British army denied Lee Miller’s request to go to the front lines as a war photographer. Undeterred, she gained accreditation from the U.S. army, becoming a war correspondent for Condé Nast Publications from December 1942. She was one of four women accredited.
Photojournalism on the Front Line
Lee Miller’s photography of World War II was extensive and persistent. She was sent to Saint-Malo with the task of reporting on its liberation. Upon arrival, it was clear the conflict was ongoing. As a female war correspondent, she was not allowed into an active zone. However, Miller remained to capture the Battle of Saint-Malo. Her determination lead to an image of the first-recorded use of napalm, as well as a temporary house arrest for the photographer.
Miller wanted to provide eye-witness account for the casualties of war so that readers at home could see exactly what she was seeing through her camera. Working often with fellow photojournalist David E. Scherman, the pair went across Europe, photographing the liberation of Paris as well as the Battle of Alsace.
Notably, both photographers were present as the U.S. entered and liberated the concentration camps in Buchenwald and Dachau. They were among the first to photograph the atrocities. Miller sent the photos back to Vogue with apprehension, concerned that their graphic nature would restrict their publishing. Her concern was shown in the telegram she sent alongside the photos to her editor: “I IMPLORE YOU TO BELIEVE THIS IS TRUE.” At a time when much about the Nazi regime was being covered up, Lee Miller was determined to document the truth.
Following the liberation, Miller and Scherman returned to Munich. It was there that Scherman photographed Miller, sitting in Adolf Hitler’s bathtub. The notoriously iconic photograph includes a framed photo of the dictator, and Miller’s boots dirtying the bathroom with the mud from Dachau. These were the photos which set Miller apart, with her granddaughter dubbing the photograph “legendary” in an interview about her works.
Lee’s Legacy
After the war, and for the rest of her life, Lee Miller struggled with PTSD from what she had seen. Because she preferred to talk about her life in Paris in the 30s, those closest to her never discovered the profound extent of her work as a war correspondent until after her death in 1977.
It was then that her only son, Anthony Penrose, discovered 60,000 negatives and prints in the attic of their family home. They detailed a life that Penrose had never known about his mother. In the postscript of his biography of Miller, Penrose said: “The Lee I discovered was very different from the one I had been embattled with for so many years.” It shone a light on an extraordinary woman, who had spent most of her life trying to convince everyone she was ordinary.
Cinematic Retelling in Lee
Indeed it was Anthony Penrose’s biography, The Lives of Lee Miller, which formed the basis of Ellen Kuras’ 2023 film Lee. The film stars Kate Winslet as Miller, who the actress called “an utterly extraordinary person”.
The film took eight years to make — a testament to the scope of Miller’s life. Hers was a necessary story to be told. It seemed that the world needed her; it needed people to know who Lee Miller was. And against all odds, they eventually would.
