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visual arts l~ m> Estranged from Beauty, None Can Be: The Work of Lee Miller and Lesley Dill Lee Miller, self portrait, 1932 P resentation House Gallery will o p e n the n e w c e n t u r y w i t h p h o - t o g r a p h i c w o r k by t w o w o m e n artists: t h e legendary p h o t o g r a p h e r Lee M i l l e r a n d c o n t e m p o r a r y a r t i s t Lesley D i l l . L e e M i l l e r lived a life i m m e r s e d in images, f r o m h e r father's d a r k r o o m t o h e r o w n i l l u s t r i o u s c a r e e r as a p h o t o g r a p h e r and journalist. A s a beautiful y o u n g w o m a n in 1927, she w a s p h o t o g r a p h e d by E d w a r d S t e i c h e n f o r Vogue magazine and Vanity Fair. In 1928, she left A m e r i c a f o r t h e heady haute c o u t u r e o f Paris, w h e r e she b e c a m e a s t u d e n t , m o d e l , collaborator, and lover of surrealist p h o t o g r a p h e r M a n Ray - and t h e s u b j e c t o f many of his f a m o u s o> ~n H; *^ images. Miller contributed t o the developm e n t of M a n Ray's f a m o u s solarizing t e c h n i q u e , and he i m m o r t a l i z e d h e r lips in t h e painting Observatory Time f o r m i l i t a r y a c c r e d i t a t i o n as a w a r correspondent. H e r photographs vivid w r i t t e n d e s c r i p t i o n s of the F r o n t b e c a m e regular features in Vogue t h r o u g h o u t t h e w a r and its a f t e r m a t h . She was t h e r e f o r the libe r a t i o n of Paris and in t h e c a m p s at D a c h a u , and t r a v e l l e d t h r o u g h A u s t r i a and H u n g a r y c h r o n i c l i n g the w a r ' s h u m a n and physical d e s t r u c t i o n . A f t e r the war. M i l l e r became ill and t u r n e d increasingly t o a l c o h o l , although she c o n t i n u e d t o take specific p h o t o g r a p h i c assignments, largely of artists. H e r last w o r k was o n Antoni Tapies in 1973; she d i e d in 1977 in Britain. Lee M i l l e r was a muse t o many, b u t it is as an artist and journalist that she left h e r mark. T h e " i n d e s t r u c t i b l e e y e " that haunted M a n Ray also c h r o n i c l e d an era of creativity and d e s t r u c t i o n in the mid-century. Miller's p r a c t i c e was i n f o r m e d by the a r t i s t r y she d e v e l o p e d d u r i n g h e r early years w i t h the surrealists and w i t h p h o t o g raphers such as E d w a r d Steichen. O n e p h o t o g r a p h , Tanja Ramm under a glass dome, 1931, may have been inspired and by an e a r l i e r s e l f - p o r t r a i t by C l a u d e C a h u n , w h o w a s the subject o f a n o t h e r e x h i b i t i o n at P r e s e n t a t i o n H o u s e G a l l e r y in 1998. M i l l e r ' s intense i n v o l v e m e n t in life, and h e r facility w i t h t h e t o o l s o f h e r t r a d e , led t o h e r unflinching d o c u m e n t a t i o n of t h e war, w h i c h is unrivaled in its c o n cise, head-on a c c o u n t o f t h e h o r r o r s of W W I I . H e r images have left an indelible m a r k of this t i m e o n o u r c o l l e c t i v e m e m o r y . T h e e x h i b i t i o n is called and will include 96 p h o tographs dating f r o m a p p r o x i m a t e l y 1929 t o 1964. The Lovers (1934) a n d h e r eye in Indestructible Object (1929). She also s t a r r e d in Jean C o c t e a u ' s film Le Sang DVn Poet A n e x c e l l e n t a n d astute p h o t o g r a p h e r in h e r o w n right. M i l l e r ' s c a r e e r d e v e l o p e d steadily a m i d n u m e r o u s love affairs. M a n Ray was d e v a s t a t e d w h e n in 1934 she m a r r i e d an Egyptian businessman and m o v e d t o C a i r o , w h e r e she p h o t o g r a p h e d t h e c o u n t r y s i d e . O n e p h o t o g r a p h . Portrait of Space (1937), was said t o have i n s p i r e d Magritte's painting Le Baiser. A f t e r t h r e e years. M i l l e r r e t u r n e d t o E u r o p e and t h e a r t i s t s ' c i r c l e that i n s p i r e d h e r social and a e s t h e t i c c r e ativity. She w a s p a i n t e d by Picasso (Portrait of Lee Miller, 1937), as w e l l as by h e r s e c o n d husband, R o l a n d P e n r o s e . She p h o t o g r a p h e d C h a r l i e C h a p l i n , C o l e t t e , M a x Ernst, a n d t h e c i r c l e of artists a n d w r i t e r s w h o w e r e h e r friends. A l l the w h i l e , t h e w a r w a s d e v e l o p i n g in E u r o p e . M i l l e r was w o r k i n g as a fashion p h o t o g r a p h e r f o r Vogue w h e n she began t o p h o t o g r a p h scenes of t h e Blitz in England and ultimately applied A l s o o n v i e w w i l l be the v i d e o The Lives of Lee Miller by A n t o n y Penrose, made for Channel 4 T V ( U K ) in 1986. O n Saturday, January 15, at 2 p m . T o n y P e n r o s e will give a l e c t u r e t i t l e d Lee Miller: Muse and Surrealist Artist P e n r o s e is t h e son o f L e e M i l l e r and R o l a n d P e n r o s e . H e is the a u t h o r of t h e highly a c c l a i m e d definitive biography of Lee M i l l e r ; t h e d i r e c t o r a n d p r o d u c e r of a d o c u m e n tary on Miller for Channel 4 T V (1988). and a c o f o u n d e r of the Lee M i l l e r A r c h i v e . A farmer, managing an