Lee Miller A Life

-

Lee Miller: A Life is a biography by Carolyn Burke that explores the life of the renowned photographer, Lee Miller. Beginning with her early years, Burke delves into Miller's childhood and how traumatic experiences shaped her existence. Miller led a very bohemian and free-spirited life. Although she never received a formal education, she learned from professionals and her own experiences. Through her connection with Man Ray, who inspired her as his muse, she quickly fell in love with photography and worked closely with Vogue and British Vogue. Adopting a surrealistic style, Lee Miller became highly sought after for her unique and adventurous approach. Despite having several love affairs and being married, she was a free spirit who resisted being tied down to one person. During WWII, she served as a war correspondent and was the first and only woman to document the front lines, experiencing the brutality of war firsthand. Additionally, she was among the few who captured the horrifying scenes of the concentration camps.

After the war, she traveled around Europe, photographing the aftermath, before returning to Paris. After remarrying, she and her husband moved to the countryside, where she set aside her camera to pursue cooking. Although she had a child, her eccentric lifestyle and personality created a distance between her and her son. She spent the rest of her life on the farm, continuing to cook and experiment with various flavors.

Carolyn Burke excels at providing detail about Miller's life, vividly describing her emotional experiences. However, the writing can be dense at times, with some sections dragging on. The development of Lee as both a person and a photographer occasionally takes a back seat, as there is excessive emphasis on the perspectives and descriptions of others. The most compelling chapters are those that depict WWII and illustrate how Miller captured the war in a surrealist manner, highlighting its brutal realities.

Overall, this was a worthwhile read, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about Lee Miller, particularly her personal life. While there are some dense and slow sections, there are moments of significant movement and radical shifts in her life that make the story more engaging.

A Novel About the Life and Times of the Photographer Lee Miller - The New York Times

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Caelum et Terram

-
 Photography, for many, is about the subject and the recording of life for keepsakes or references. Confining the photograph to its archival and indexical qualities restricts the medium's full potential. This confinement may cause the actual photograph to become transparent and fix the gaze only on the subject. The material, quality, and overall feel of the photograph may not even be considered. The process by which the photo is made has become, in a way, obsolete. Society has become content with instant gratification that, over the evolution of photography, the physical picture has become less of an object and more of a string of codes that can be viewed with a simple search or scroll on a computer or phone. These interactions change how viewers and even creators develop and form completed works. The integration of digital imagery has taken away the aura of creating and physically looking at an image. Through physical manipulation of the surface of a photograph, changing how viewe...
Read more

Hello and Welcome!

-
Image
My name is Molly, and I am photographer who loves to tell and authentic story. I am student going for my MFA in Photography studying at Svannah College of Art and Design. I live in Buffalo; New York and I love to travel and go on amazing adventures.  My main focus for this blog is to have a place where I can share and write about my work. Show behind the scenes of my work in progress. I also want to share and teach others about photography and photographers and share new things that I learn. I am excited to share my experiences and to share my life in a photograph. Here is a link to all my socials and website :  linktr.ee/mollysheehan499
Read more

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

-
Image
      The Creative Act is a book that explores and dissects the creative process. The chapters address every aspect of creating a work of art, writing, or music. Several chapters discuss overcoming creative blocks and explain how ideas begin as small concepts that, with proper attention, can develop into a completed work. Rubin likens the inception of an idea to a seed; with consistent nurturing, the idea will continue to flourish as long as it is cared for. The book concludes by offering guidance on what to do after finishing a piece of art or composition, providing encouraging thoughts and motivation to continue creating.      As stated before, Rubin dissects every part of the creative process. He writes about how to create a closer connection to your work, how to express yourself, and make sure that the end goal is fully achieved. The overall language, style, and layout of the book read like a daily devotional or motivation. I enjoyed that thro...
Read more