Lee Miller (April 23, 1907 – July 21, 1977) is best known for her work as model, muse and photojournalist, but the latter took its toll during the Second World War when she became the war correspondent for Vogue/Condé Nast publications. Witnessing the London Blitz, the liberation of Paris and the concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau, she was also one of the first to arrive at Hitler’s secret apartments, coincidentally the same day that he committed suicide. Hardly surprising then that post-war she suffered from clinical depression and what we now term PTSD, and retreated to Farleys Farmhouse in the rural East Sussex village of Chiddingly where she and her husband, Roland Penrose, brought up their son, Anthony.
Anthony Penrose, has devoted much of his life to preserving Farleys and making sure Lee’s legacy is maintained and shared with the world. The Covid pandemic has, of course, had a tough impact on Farleys as it has on every museum and art organisation, but thanks to a fundraising project they are re-opening on Thursday 20 May.
PUOSU paid a visit last summer and was lucky enough to get hold of some limited edition prints of Lee’s work (see below). Their opening exhibition, Lee Miller, Fashion in Wartime Britain is open 20 May – 8 August 2021 – we can’t recommend it highly enough.
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