Lee Miller is one of my favourite early 20th century photographers. the contexts of her photographs are often horrific, but her eye always incredible, here's a very brief outline of this extraordinary photographer ... in the 20s she was a successful New York model before going to Paris where she became an active participant in the surrealist movement as well as becoming the apprentice (and lover) of the acclaimed surrealist photographer Man Ray. it was during this time that she and Man Ray co- discovered the soloristion technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solarisation (see first image below). in 1932 she left Paris, as well as Man Ray, returning to New York where she became a very successful portrait photographer. in 1934 she married an Egyptian businessmen and moved to Cairo mastering her craft with awe inspiring surreal images of the Egyptian landscape. during Word War II she became a war correspondent for Vogue magazine in which time she photographed the horrors of war. her images of the concentration camps in Buchenwald and Dachau shocked the world. in 1947 she married artist Roland Penrose and moved to Sussex, England. she seldom photographed hereafter. not surprisingly her experiences during the war negatively affected her life and she was later diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome. View some of her photos and you can see why
