Elizabeth Lee Miller (1907–1977) led an extraordinary life that fused creativity, rebellion, and bold independence, both in her work and personal experiences. Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, she was the daughter of an engineer and amateur photographer, who introduced her to the craft at an early age. This early exposure ignited a passion that would carry her through a tumultuous and fascinating career, yet her personal life was as rich and complex as her work.
In the 1920s, Lee became one of the most sought-after models in New York City after a chance encounter with Condé Nast, the founder of Vogue. Her face became synonymous with the Jazz Age—modern, elegant, and striking. However, she wasn’t content to remain in front of the camera. In 1929, Miller moved to Paris with the intention of becoming a photographer herself. There, she crossed paths with Man Ray, the avant-garde Surrealist photographer, and soon became his lover, muse, and creative partner. Their relationship was a passionate, and often stormy, collaboration. Together, they pioneered new photographic techniques, including solarization, but Miller also carved out her own identity within the Surrealist movement, creating work that expressed her distinct voice.
Despite their artistic synergy, Miller eventually ended her romantic relationship with Man Ray after growing tired of his controlling nature. In a famous anecdote, when Ray attempted to erase all traces of Miller from his life after their breakup, he found it impossible. In a bid for emotional closure, Ray created one of his most famous works, the Indestructible Object—a metronome with an image of Miller's eye attached to the pendulum—a symbol of how she was still watching him even in her absence.
Miller's love life continued to be tumultuous. After Paris, she briefly returned to New York and started a successful portrait and fashion photography studio, but she soon grew restless. She married Egyptian businessman Aziz Eloui Bey in 1934 and moved to Cairo. However, the constraints of a traditional marriage didn’t suit her, and Miller became bored with the luxurious but stifling lifestyle. Her creative spirit pulled her back to Europe, where she rekindled an affair with English surrealist artist Roland Penrose during a trip to Paris. Their relationship, which began in the late 1930s, would become one of the defining partnerships of her life.
During World War II, Miller took on a new identity—as a war correspondent. Her relationship with Penrose remained strong despite the chaos of the war. They married in 1947 and had a son, Antony Penrose. Yet, the scars of the war remained with her, and Miller struggled with depression and alcoholism in her later years.
Miller in 1943 with other female war correspondents who covered the U.S. Army in the European Theater during World War II; from left to right: Mary Welsh, Dixie Tighe, Kathleen Harriman, Helen Kirkpatrick, Lee Miller, and Tania Long © U.S. Army Official Photograph
One of the most famous and controversial moments of her personal life occurred in 1945. Miller, while covering the liberation of Europe for Vogue, visited Adolf Hitler’s Munich apartment mere hours after his death. In a moment of dark irony, she took a famous self-portrait while bathing in his tub, her muddy boots casually placed on his pristine bath mat. The photo is often viewed as a symbol of her defiance in the face of the horrors she had witnessed during the war.
In her later years, Miller retreated into domestic life at Farley Farm in England, where she and Penrose hosted a circle of artists including Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore, and Max Ernst. However, her post-war years were fraught with inner turmoil. Miller seldom spoke of her wartime experiences, and her battles with PTSD and alcoholism clouded her later life.
It wasn’t until her son Antony discovered her wartime photographs and letters in the attic of Farley Farm, long after her death, that the world began to rediscover her monumental contributions to photography and history. Today, Lee Miller is celebrated as a fierce, boundary-breaking artist who lived a life as daring and unconventional as the images she created.