Lee Miller Self Portrait with headband, New York Studio, USA 1932 © Lee Miller Archives, England 2016. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk

Biography

Born 1907
Died 1977
Nationality American
Birth place Poughkeepsie
Death place East Sussex

Miller had a most remarkable career and life. She was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and worked as a model for Condé Nast, learning photography first through being a subject for the most important fashion photographers of her day. In 1929 she visited Paris for the second time and became the artistic collaborator and lover of surrealist artist Man Ray. This initiated her career as a photographer. Thereafter her work showed the versatility of Surrealism, fashion photography and, from 1940, journalism, when she became the war reporter for British Vogue. In 1947 Miller married English artist and historian, Roland Penrose. She eventually abandoned photography and her work has only re-emerged in recent years.

Glossary terms

Glossary terms

Documentary photography

A style of photographs that presents straightforward records of events, people and places, often recording important historical or political moments.