The work of a well-known photographer – whose images ranged from snaps of Pablo Picasso to shots of the London Blitz – is to be exhibited at Durham’s Gala Theatre.
Lee Miller – whose photos often had a surrealist slant – also worked as a photojournalist for the US Army, as well as contributing pictures of fashions and celebrities to Vogue.
As well as covering the Blitz, Ms Miller’s wartime work included photographing the liberation of concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau.
Born in New York in 1907, Lee Miller travelled to Paris in 1925 to study art before returning to complete her studies in her native city.
After being a sought-after fashion model in New York, she again moved to Paris where she became a participant in the surrealist movement. Her friends included well-known surrealists like Paul Eluard and Jean Cocteau.
The Durham exhibition will focus more on Ms Miller’s home life at Farley Farm in East Sussex.
Ms Miller lived at the farm with her husband, fellow artist Roland Penrose. During her time there, she photographed visitors such as the artists Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst and Man Ray.
The exhibition will, however, also include some of Ms Miller’s shots of wartime London and photographs she took of New York, Paris and Egypt in the 1930s.
The exhibition – entitled Lee Miller at Farley farm – is free of charge and will be on at the Gala Theatre from Sunday 24th June to Sunday 2nd September.
The gallery will be open from 10.00 am to 8.30 pm from Monday to Saturday and from 2.30 pm to 8.30 pm on Sunday.
For more information, please go to www.galadurham.co.uk/gala-gallery/.
(The featured image is the photograph ‘Self-portrait in black and white patterned dress, New York Studio, New York, USA, 1932’ by Lee Miller. © Lee Miller Archives, England 2018. All rights reserved.)
