"Lee Miller" exhibition at MAM
When: 10.04.2026 11:00
Where: 48.864641, 2.297008
Organizer: Admin
An essential figure of the international avant-garde, Lee Miller (1907, Poughkeepsie, United States – 1977, Chiddingly, United Kingdom) was a model, surrealist artist, portraitist, fashion photographer and war correspondent accredited by the American army. Long relegated to the role of dagery, she is now recognized as one of the great photographers of the twentieth century.
The exhibition traces his entire journey, from his beginnings in New York to the years of war in Europe, through his stay in Egypt and his life in London. It demonstrates the richness of a work where formal experimentation, visual audacity and political commitment coexist.
Eighteen years after the last French retrospective at the Jeu de Paume, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris offers a six-part tour, combining chronological and thematic approaches.
Exposure
The exhibition opens on a set of Lee Miller portraits by the greatest photographers and filmmakers of the 1920s and 1930s. Lee Miller established himself as a personality of the late 1920s in New York through his mannequin activity. She is one of the most sought after models in magazines, appearing the archetype of modern, emancipated and active women. During her stay in Paris, her ties with surrealists led her to play one of the main roles of Jean Cocteau's first film, The Blood of a Poet (1930-1932).
The course continues by examining the importance of his stay in Paris between 1929 and 1932. This period is marked by her encounter with Man Ray, of which she becomes the apprentice but also the companion. Their intense collaboration explores the erotic power of the photographic medium, and materializes in their joint discovery of what Lee Miller called "solarization". Also known as the Sabatier effect, solarization is a technique of briefly exposing a draw or negative to light during treatment. The result is a partial inversion of the tones of photography, creating a halo-oniric effect. This phenomenon was first observed in the 1840s, but Man Ray and Lee Miller are often seen as the first artists to use it creatively.
Lee Miller opened his own studio and worked as a photographer for Vogue, affirming his desire for artistic independence. His photographs, singular in their taste for oblique framing and unusual rapprochements, are exhibited in Parisian galleries alongside the great photographers of the time (Germaine Krull, Brassaï...).
This rich period ended with her departure for New York in 1932, where she opened a new studio. His first personal exhibition was organized by the Julien Levy gallery. There won't be others in his lifetime. His work as a portrait artist, to which two sections are dedicated, is growing and will continue throughout his life. It reflects its many links with the artistic and literary communities.
In 1934, Lee Miller married the Egyptian businessman Aziz Eloui Bey and settled with him in Cairo. The photographs of this period are marked by the affirmation of the motifs, textures and framings that make up his images. Far from exploring exotic themes, Miller will pay more attention to the contrasts of materials and forms, the changes in perceptions induced by the angles of shots.
In 1937, Miller's encounter with surrealist painter and poet Roland Penrose gradually distanced him from Egypt. She spends more time in Europe with her surreal friends. In 1939, at the outbreak of the war, she chose to stay in London and gradually invested in British Vogue publications as a fashion photographer. This section shows the use in his photographs of the ruins and bombings of London. She also participated in the publication in May 1941 of Grim Glory: Pictures of Britain Under Fire, which demonstrated daily life during the Blitz by mixing patriotic celebration with black humour.
In the winter of 1942, Miller was one of the few women photographers to obtain a United States war correspondent accreditation. She now directly covers the conflict and devotes numerous reports to women involved in the war: nurses, anti-aircraft defence personnel, airwomen, who appear both in the British and American Vogue.
A few weeks after the Disembarkation of June 1944, it crossed the Channel to follow the advance of the Allied troops, and was on the front line on the front line, particularly during the liberation of Saint Malo. His photographs and articles denounce the violence of the conflict. The course shows how it differs from conventional war reports, by the tone it uses and its very personal commitment. His eye and sensitivity attach more to meaningful details than to the theatre of military operations.
In April 1945, with Life David E. Scherman's photographer, Lee Miller travelled to Dachau and Buchenwald just after the camp was liberated. Accompanied by an article (Believe it – June 1945), some of his photographs published in Vogue mention his sideration. Lee Miller's photographs are among the first to reveal to the general public the Nazis' mass extermination enterprise.
On April
Tags: museum, exhibition, photography, art
Source: https://www.paris.fr/evenements/lee-miller-107505
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