Lee Miller: A Life

by Carolyn Burke

Book Overview

Lee Miller's life embodied all the contradictions and complications of the twentieth century: a model and photographer, muse and reporter, sexual adventurer and domestic goddess, she was also... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375401474
• ISBN13: 9780375401473
• Release Date: November 2005
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 426 Pages
• Weight: 2.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.6" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Book and Amazon Service

The book is an excellent book on Lee Miller's life. It was packaged very well and arrived quickly. Excellent service

Great Book

I love to read biographies and have read a variety. This is a great read about a very interesting woman.

Flapper finds her Destiny in World War II

Like so many individuals over the ages, Lee Miller grew up in a relatively small community in what the media currently refers to as "Fly Over Country." A member of a talented middle class family, she enjoyed every advantage that her parents could provide, which was considerable. From an early age she displayed a thirst for adventure. She fled to Paris to study and fell in love with the Latin Quarter before returning to America. Moving to New York City she stepped into the path of and on-coming car and was pulled to safety by a well-dressed stranger. In shock, Lee babbled in French causing the stranger, Conde Nast, to take a closer look at the young woman he'd just rescued. He was impressed and asked her if she would like to come to work for one of his magazines--Vogue. At age of 19 Lee became a cover girl for Vogue and was dubbed the embodiment of the modern girl. She was the official model for the legendary "flapper." Soon she was in demand by most of the most famous photographers in America including Edward Steichen and Arnold Genthe. Tiring of being just a New York celebrity-model Lee was soon back in Paris where in a single day she became the traveling companion, mistress, model, muse, photography assistant and student of photographer Man Ray. Through him she became a member of the Surrealists and lived and moved among the great artists and writers living and working in Montparnasse at the time. Her early associations with these world famous artists would change her life. Under Man Ray's tutelage she slowly began a transformation from being in front of the camera to being behind it. She eventually received additional photographic training at the Clarence White School along with another soon-to-be-famous woman photographer Margaret Bourke-White. After marrying a wealthy Egyptian and going slightly crazy as a member of the "Black Satin & Pearls" expatriates living in Cairo, Lee found her mission in life by another unlikely event rivaling her earlier "Grace Kelly-like" discovery by Conde Nast. World War II broke out while Lee awaited its predicted arrival in London. Unbelievably she was soon working as a war photographer for Vogue magazine. Through her good looks, charm, talent and stealth she was soon the only woman photographer covering the front lines of the European battlefront. World War II was the highlight of Lee's photography career. She took to being a successful war correspondent like a duckling takes to water. She was tireless, talented, resourceful and finally fulfilled through accomplishing important work. Changed by her war experiences, (an early example of Post-Traumatic Stress) she never quite received the same sense of satisfaction for her later work, but she was no longer as restless after having fulfilled some indefinable need in her naturally adventurous personality. For a beautiful woman (Picasso painted six bare breasted portraits of her during one summer), she was able to shake off the handicap of being a NY celebr

Fascinating Biography - A MUST-READ!

"Lee Miller: A Biography" is a must-read for anyone interested in learning about a woman who made a lasting impact on the Surrealist art scene coming out of Paris in the '20s and '30s. Even more importantly, though, Lee Miller's contribution to our understanding of World War II through her insightful photojournalism is especially educational and poignant. Having read "The Women Who Wrote the War" by Nancy Caldwell Sorel, I was already familiar with Lee's WWII experience, but it was absolutely fascinating to learn the more intimate details that molded Lee Miller into who she was by the time of WWII. Lee's ability to continually evolve herself and her creativity was well-captured by the author. I HIGHLY recommend this book.

not an ordinary life or biography

How often do you read a biography that immerses you in the subject's vitality, essence, the dark side and the shining one? Carolyn Burke's astonishing biography of Lee Miller does just this. The reader dives easily into Miller's extraordinary life, from her childhood days in Poughkeepsie to her youth and adulthood as the muse and student of Surrealist artist Man Ray in Paris, to her own career as a model, photographer, and journalist, traveling far and wide for work and pleasure, always with her eye and mind attuned to landscape and nuance, the poetry of any given moment or situation. Burke's empathic understanding of her subject's psyche allows her to focus on both the inner and outer workings that drove and created Lee Miller's talent, work, and life. There are accompanying photos throughout. This is a biography that reads like a riveting story, as chapter after chapter reveals a complex woman who lived in extraordinary times and was an important and potent contributor to those times. Burke achieves a beautiful balance of details, history, and conversations, so satisfying that you don't want it to stop.