A retrospective in Bologna on Lee Miller, one of the most important photographers of the 20th century

From March 14 to June 9, 2019, in Bologna, Palazzo Pallavicini and ONO arte contemporanea present the exhibition Surrealist Lee Miller, the Italian premiere of the retrospective dedicated to one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century, Lee Miller (real name Elizabeth Miller, Poughkeepsie, 1907 - Chiddingly, 1977). Launched by Condé Nast on the cover of Vogue in 1927, Lee Miller became one of the most popular and in-demand models in fashion magazines and was photographed by many of the great names of the early twentieth century (such as Edward Steichen, George Hoyningen-Huene, or Arnold Genthe), only to switch to the other side of the lens. A headstrong and resourceful woman, she was deeply impressed by the images of the most important photographer of the time, Man Ray, whom she managed to meet, becoming his model and muse. With Man Ray, Lee Miller established a lasting artistic and professional partnership that together would lead them to develop the technique of solarization.

A friend of Picasso, Ernst, Cocteau, Miró, and the entire circle of Surrealists, Miller later opened her first studio in Paris, becoming known as a portrait and fashion photographer, although her most important works remain her Surrealist images, many of them mistakenly attributed to Man Ray. To this corpus belong the famous Nude bent forward, Condom and Tanja Ramm under a bell jar, works featured in the exhibition, alongside other famous shots that fully show how Lee Miller’s artistic journey was not only autonomous, but technically mature and conceptually sophisticated. After this initial formative interlude, Miller decided to return to New York in 1932 to open a new photography studio which, despite its success, closed two years later when, to follow her husband (wealthy Egyptian businessman Aziz Eloui Bey), Lee moved to Cairo. There the artist made long journeys into the desert and photographed villages and ruins, beginning to engage with reportage photography, a genre that Lee Miller continued in later years when, together with Roland Penrose (the surrealist artist who would become her second husband), she traveled to both southern and eastern Europe.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Lee Miller left Egypt to move to London and, ignoring orders from the U.S. Embassy to return home, began working as a freelance photographer for Vogue. She documented the bombing of London, but her most important contribution would come in 1944, when she became an accredited correspondent following American troops and a contributor to photographer David E. Scherman for “Life” and “Time” magazines.

She was the only female photographer to follow the Allies during D-Day, documenting activities at the front and during liberation. Her photographs vividly and never didactically bear witness to the siege of St. Malo, the liberation of Paris, the fighting in Luxembourg and Alsace, and, in addition, the liberation of the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps. It was during these feverish days that Hitler’s apartments in Munich were discovered, and it was here that Lee Miller took the famous self-portrait in the Führer’s bathtub. After the war Lee Miller continued to shoot for Vogue for another two years, covering fashion and celebrity, but the post-traumatic stress he suffered as a result of his time at the front contributed to his slow withdrawal from the art scene, although his contribution to the biographies written by Penrose on Picasso, Miró, Man Ray and Tapies was crucial, both as a photographic and anecdotal apparatus.

The exhibition, organized by Palazzo Pallavicini and curated by ONO contemporary art, consists of 101 photographs spanning the photographer’s entire artistic career, through what are her most famous and iconic shots, including the session taken in Hitler’s apartments, rarely exhibited even internationally and never circulated in print due to their misuse over the years by neo-Nazi groups.

Surrealist Lee Miller opens Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last admission 7 p.m.). Special openings April 22 and 25, May 1 and June 2. Tickets: full 14 euros, reduced 12 (ages 6 to 18 and under, over 65 with ID, students under 26 with ID, military with ID, tour guides with ID, practicing journalists and publicists with ID regularly registered with theOrder, disabled companions, ICOM members with card), reduced groups (at least 15 people) 10 euros with one free companion, school groups 5 euros with two free companions per class, Bologna Welcome and Bologna Card Musei holders 9 euros, University Thursdays 9 euros, free for children under 6 and disabled. For info see the Palazzo Pallavicini website.

Pictured: Lee Miller, Self portrait with headband, New York, USA, 1932. © Lee Miller Archives England 2018. All Rights Reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk

A retrospective in Bologna on Lee Miller, one of the most important photographers of the 20th century

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