Review by Choice Review
This is a picture book, a kind of extended-family album of mostly formal and informal portraits (including pictures of Miller) plus a group of journalistic images (still largely portrait-based and civilian) made in London and the Continent during WW II. They were made by a woman whose unorthodox life's engagements with the likes of Man Ray (she was his student and lover), Roland Penrose (her second husband), Picasso, Colette, et al., coupled with her positions at Vogue (fashion model, photographer, writer), make her a fascinating personality--a celebrity not unlike many of the subjects of her photographs. Her early work reveals real visual insight and is the most compelling (her only solo exhibition was in 1933 at age 25). The later work is most noteworthy for its content and technical quality. Calvocoressi (director, Scottish National Gallery of Art) offers a ten-page introductory text with an outline of Miller's life, supplemented by five one-page section leaders, newsy picture captions, endnotes, and name index. Quotations in the text from Miller's own published writing suggest, perhaps more than do her photographs, that she was a very perceptive observer as well as an excellent writer. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers. C. Chiarenza emeritus, University of Rochester
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Everything about Miller is unusual and, until now, too little known. A classic beauty, her first forays into the world of photography took place in front of the lens after CondeNast saved her from being run over on a Manhattan street, then promptly hired her as a model for Vogue. In Paris she became muse, lover, and protegeto surrealist Man Ray, opening her own studio in Montparnasse in 1930. A woman of innate style with, as Calvocoressi so crisply attests, an "unflinching" eye, Miller graduated rapidly from fashion shoots to celebrity portraiture, drawing from her subjectsmas, Colette, Clark Gable--images of not only sophisticated composition but also arresting emotional resonance. Courageous and intrepid, Miller then transformed herself into a war correspondent, covering the horrors of the London Blitz, Normandy, Buchenwald, and Dachau with awesome presence of mind and transcendent artistry. Most of the riveting photographs published in this singular volume haven't been seen in 50 years, or were never published until now, and all add immeasurably to the human record. Donna Seaman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This collection of over 150 photographs chronicles the model-turned-freelance photographer's distinctive 30-year career, from her beginnings as a portraitist with Man Ray, through her long association with Vogue magazine. Two-thirds of Miller's oeuvre consists of portraits; while most here are of famous artists and writers (Reni Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Ivy Compton-Burnette), the most arresting portraits come from her work as a WWII photoreporter for Vogue (at the time, Vogue was one of the leading publications for war coverage). Miller's frontal-view compositions reveal her frank and unflinching attitude toward the world around her; the disturbing close-ups of female collaborators in Paris and the smashed nose of an SS prison guard in Buchenwald repel even as they compel. Calvocoressi, the director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, introduces the book, suggesting that the "ability to elicit feelings of disgust and sympathy at the same time is arguably what makes Miller and other war photographers... great artists." Her greatest accomplishments, Calvocoressi maintains, are her portraits of Picasso, which were produced over a 20-year period; she catches the artist, Calvocoressi writes, "absorbed in some activity, unselfconscious rather than posing." Gathered for the first time in this collection, Miller's work deserves a studied glance. 157 b&w illus. (Nov. 25) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In words and pictures, this volume chronicles the fascinating life of Lee Miller (1907-77), a dynamic American photographer who began her career in 1927 as a Cond Nast model. After moving to Paris to study art, she became the assistant to surrealist artist Man Ray and a serious portraitist in her own right, working with such iconic personalities as Pablo Picasso, Dylan Thomas, and Igor Stravinsky. Miller made the remarkable jump from portrait and fashion photography to photojournalism as a foreign war correspondent in Europe for Vogue magazine in 1942, where she made some of the most compelling images of World War II, including the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps. Calvocoressi, director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and author of Magritte, has written a revealing introduction to each chapter, and his insightful essay connects Miller's unconventional life to her photographs-beautifully reproduced as 157 lush black-and-white duotones, many of which have been unpublished until now. Little else is available on Miller's life and work. Highly recommended for all collections, especially academic libraries.-Shauna Frischkorn, Millersville Univ., PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
