At the heart of the exhibition lies the relationship between Lee Miller and Man Ray, which blossomed in Paris in 1929 and ended in 1932. Lee avidly took up every suggestion and provocation from the artistic and cultural background of the time before meeting Man Ray in 1929, in the Parisian avant-garde of the nineteen twenties that gathered and launched some of the biggest names in the history of art. In Paris Miller worked with George Hoyningen-Huené, the famous ‘Vogue’ (France) photographer, who revealed her androgynous grace by photographing her dressed in a tracksuit and sneakers, worn as if she were sporting an evening gown, and in the famous The Divers, one of the twentieth century’s most iconic fashion shots, chosen by Anna Wintour as one of her five favourites in the long history of ‘Vogue’, where Lee Miller poses with her back to the camera on a wharf with Horst P. Image courtesy of Palazzo Franchetti, © Lee Miller Archives England 2022 Partly for this reason, she decided to leave New York and return to Paris to cultivate her passion for photography. Georges Lepape, the main fashion illustrator of the time, depicted her face for a ‘Vogue’ (USA) cover in 1927 launching her as a style icon, which she remained until the notorious shot used without her knowledge to advertise Kotex sanitary towels, considered scandalous at the time. The first section is dedicated to Lee Miller as model and muse in the Twenties, when she incidentally met the famous publisher Condé Nast, who was instrumental in her becoming a model for ‘Vogue’. The exhibition opens with a diptych by Lee Miller and Man Ray (Man Ray, self-portrait, 1931 and Man Ray, Lee Miller, 1929) and continues in chronological order by theme. This event therefore sets out to pay suitable homage to Lee Miller, pioneer of surrealism in photography, placing her on a par with Man Ray, whose work tended to overshadow her both during her lifetime and after. Image courtesy of Palazzo Franchetti, © Vincenzo Bruno Indeed, many often forget that she was the one who quite by chance discovered the solarisation technique and inspired Man Ray to use it as his artistic signature, for which he became famous.
#IMAGE FASHION LOVE PROFESSIONAL#
In the exclusive prestigious venue of Palazzo Franchetti, Venice, from 5 November to 10 April 2023, visitors will, at last, have the opportunity to fully appreciate the qualities of this important photographer, and her contribution to photography, not only as Man Ray’s muse, but above all as a professional in her own right.
Cultura in collaboration with ACP-Palazzo Franchetti, with the patronage of Venice Municipality, which has included it in its events for “Le città in Festa”, main sponsor Gruppo Unipol, and presents approximately 140 photographs by Lee Miller and Man Ray, a collection of objets d’art and video documents, loaned by Lee Miller Archives and Fondazione Marconi. Fashion, love, war is curated by Victoria Noel-Johnson and produced and organised by CMS. An exhibition will now do justice to this woman as beautiful as she was clever and talented, taking her out of Man Ray’s overpowering shadow, to reveal a deep but complicated relationship more objectively: Man Ray, first her teacher, then lover, and in the end friend. She went through life with passion and determination and life repaid her with love and friends, but also with pain and posthumous, or at least tardy, acknowledgement. Model, photographer, muse, the first female war correspondent to report the horrors of the concentration camps liberated by American troops, and a twentieth-century icon.
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