Ravishingly beautiful, Lee Miller was a celebrated darling of the New York social scene of the Twenties and Thirties, modelling for Vogue and mixing with contemporary celebrities including Charlie Chaplin and George Gershwin.
However, her enduring glamour has, at times, obscured an extraordinary life of artistic achievement that encompasses Surrealist art, fashion photography and war reportage.
Now, a new exhibition at London’s Tate Britain celebrates Lee’s career, ranging from her early photography to her documentation of the Second World War, including the famous shot of her posing in Hitler’s bathtub after his downfall.
“She has been trivialised because she started out as a model, and because of the word ‘muse’ that followed her around,” says Hilary Floe, the museum’s senior curator of modern and contemporary British art, who has curated…
