Lee Miller was born in Poughkeepsie, New York. Her father was an amateur photographer and often used her as a model. When only seven years old she was raped by a family friend and suffered from gonorrhoea as a consequence. Le Miller was a misfit at school and was expelled from several schools. This was not an auspicious start in life. When 18 she studied lighting, costume and design in Paris. Returning to New York she studied life drawing in Manhattan.Fortune plays an important turn in fortunes when she stepped in front of a car and was saved by Condé Nast, the publisher of Vogue. Recognised as a beautiful young lady she became a model for Vogue and appeared on there front cover when she was still only nineteen. She then became a much sort after model for photographers such as Edward Steichen. In 1929 Lee travelled to Paris, introduced herself to Man Ray and became his apprentice, model, lover and  muse. By accident, she discovered  the the photographic technique of solarisation

Lee Miller left Mann Ray and Paris in 1932 establishing a portrait and commercial photography studio in New York. For two years she had several of her photos exhibited in New `york but then in 1934 she gave this all up to marry the wealthy Egyptian businessman and engineer Aziz Eloui Bey. They lived in Egypt and there she only photographed for herself rather than as a commercial photographer. Nevertheless, Lee Miller took some of the most interesting surrealist influenced photographs, such as Portrait of Space, a desert landscape seen through a torn fly screen, during her stay in Egypt. Tiring of Egypt Lee returned to Paris in 1937. Soon she had reconciled with Man Ray and also met the person who was to become her second husband, Roland Penrose the surrealist artist and curator. Lee divorced Bey and married Penrose in 1947 after she had conceived her son, Anthony. Meanwhile, at the outbreak of the second world war Lee was living with Roland. She decided to begin a new career as a photojournalist and war photographer for Vogue. She was able to work with the US army and her first photographs published by the British Vogue were of nurses. After the D-Day invasion, Lee travelled across Europe as a war photographer. Lee later teamed up with the American photojournalist David sherman who worked for Life magazine. They photographed together on many assignments such as the liberation of Paris and the horrors of the concentration camps at Dachau and Buchenwald. Many of these photos are harrowing. It is of no suprise that Lee was to suffer what we now call post traumatic shock and depression when she returned home after the war, although she did carry on working for Vogue for another couple of years after the war had ended.

It is hard to summarise Lee’s life in a few sentences. She had so many interesting periods in her life. Likewise her photography was like her life full of different angles and aspects of photography. In recent years she has been getting the recognition she deserves, largely due to the efforts of Anthony Penrose and his family who have have created archives at the family home at Farleys House, and promoted her work through many books, exhibitions and a film staring Kate Winslet as Lee Miller.

Solarized Portrait of An Unknown Model Lee Miller 1930

Lee Miller (1930) - Man Ray

David Shermann Dressed for War, London Lee Miller 1942

Lee Miller in a Mirande and Agnes hat. Photographed by George Hoyningen-Huene, Vogue, June 15, 1931

Portrait of Space, Nr Siwa, Egypt Lee Miller 1937

Lee Miller in Hitler’s Bathtub, Hitler’s Apartment, 16 Prinzregentenplatz, Munich, Germany 1945