15.03 - Iconic photographer & Vogue war correspondent during World War II
This FREE edition of le Bulletin will take us deep into an amazing WWII world of photography. PLUS we go to Paris to meet four artisans as part of our Materially Speaking podcast series.
Bonjour and Happy New Year francophile friends… I’m thrilled you’re here again this week — Bienvenue/welcome.
In this edition you’ll find:
What’s happening in MyFrenchLife Magazine - new articles.
Next… Iconic American photographer & Vogue war correspondent in France during World War II— lower down in this newsletter,
If you enjoy this edition, please note that every week there is another entirely different version of le bulletin exclusively for paying subscribers. This week that edition is ‘15.03.a - Eating and Drinking in Paris: Markets, Bars, Restaurants & more’. Look for it in your inbox (or here)!
Merci mille fois.
Judy - 18.1.2025
1. Let’s explore & read the new articles in My FrenchLife Magazine
Did you know there are many articles in MyFrenchLife Magazine, where savvy francophiles love to immerse themselves and indulge?
Thank you to all Contributors to our magazine. I love that your articles take us from one end of France to another and constantly remind us of the rich culture of this wonderful and diverse country.
Merci.
Judy.
→ Here you’ll find the most recently published articles:
… and now we have an interview with four artisans in Paris
→ Four Interviews: Paris transformations, podcast, and transcription — by Materially Speaking with Sarah Monk
Sarah Monk introduces the podcast:
This spring Mike Axinn and I went to Paris to see how artisans are able to practice their craft in a vibrant, urban setting. We wanted to discover more about the relevance of traditional skills in a world of 21st-century technologies.
All of these artisans told us tales of transformation and spoke of sourcing and creating from their chosen materials with passion and purpose…”
These are the four artisans interviewed, all working in Paris.
Creating kitchen knives for chefs.
Early instrument maker makes violins.
From a family of doctors and keen on biology now creating jewellery with the Sternocera beetle.
After apprenticing to several artisan blacksmiths over many years in numerous countries, he established his own atelier in Paris, specialising in artistic metalwork.
2. → Lee Miller: An Extraordinary Life
by Caroline McCormick Clarke
Iconic American photographer & Vogue war correspondent in France during World War II
[EDITOR NOTE: This is a very long article with an amazing story of the life of LEE MILLER. I have only reproduced the first part of the article below. You can click through to read the entire story and I recommend that you do so]
I was inspired by Anne Boyd’s excellent, Substack article on Lee Miller, to drive down through the back roads, the golden autumnal leaves and sunshine of Kent and East Sussex, to visit the photographic exhibition Lee and Lee at Farleys House and Gallery, Muddles Green, Chiddingly last Friday. It was a 2-hour drive there and back – but it was worth it.
The following day, I attended the film LEE, at the Gulbenkian Theatre, University of Kent, Canterbury, with my husband.
The film is directed by Ellen Kuras, and stars Kate Winslet as Lee, along with Andy Samberg (David Scherman); Alexandra Skarsgard (Roland Penrose); Marion Cotillard (Solange D’Ayen); Andrea Riseborough (Audrey Withers) and Josh O’Connor (Antony Penrose).
Whereas Anne Boyd’s article focuses on Lee Miller’s relationship with Man Ray in Paris and her review of the bio fictional novel The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer, I was most inspired by her war correspondent photography, writing and activity in France during the Second World War in 1944 – 1945. And this is what I wish to write about and share with you today.
Lee Official Theatrical Trailer 2024
What an iconic woman. As Kate Winslet shares in the foreword to the book Lee Miller Photographs by Antony Penrose 2023:
There are so many stories of girls to whom things happen. Lee Miller was a woman who made things happen. I don’t mind admitting I adore her….
….To me, she was a life force to be reckoned with, so much more than an object of attention from famous men with whom she associated. This photographer-writer-reporter did everything she did with love, lust and courage, and is an inspiration for what you can achieve, and what you can bear, if you dare to take life firmly by the hands and live it at full throttle.
Childhood and Early Career:
I feel you need some background information about Lee to better understand her complex and compelling World War 2 story.
Lee was born into a well-to-do family in Poughkeepsie, upstate New York in 1907. Her childhood was far from idyllic – traumatic would be a better descriptor. Lee’s father Theodore, an engineer and amateur photographer, very questionably photographed her nude as a child and teenager. From this, Lee learned how to develop film and make prints. At seven years old, Lee was raped by a friend of the family and consequently contracted gonorrhea. Her parents warned Lee that she was not to speak about this to anyone – and she didn’t – for decades.
Lee was enrolled and expelled from several schools. At 18, she visited Paris with two chaperones, on route to finishing school in Nice, and is reported to have said:
Baby, I’m home!
Lee absconded from her chaperones and never arrived at finishing school, instead enjoying la vie parisienne. Lee’s father went to Paris to escort her home. Returning to the US in 1926, Lee initially studied Art in New York but found it unchallenging. Her son Antony Penrose quotes Lee as saying:
Painting is a very lonesome business whereas photography is a more friendly affair. What’s more, you have something in your hand when you’re finished – every 15 seconds you’ve made something. But when you’re painting, you wash out your brushes at the end of the day and retire in disgust with little to show for it. ..And you have been lonesome all day as well! Whereas with photography as long as you can afford another piece of film you can start over again you see.
In 1927, it was rumoured that Lee deliberately walked across a road in front of a car in New York, when she recognised Condé Nast, the owner of Vogue magazine. He pulled her away from an oncoming car; Lee fainted in his arms and a few weeks later, she was on the front pages of Vogue. So began Lee’s modelling career, even before she was twenty years old. She became what we would describe today as a supermodel, so popular was Lee.
Lee Miller as the archetype of the stylish modern woman. Cover art by Georges Lepape, Vogue, March 15, 1927
In a Vogue online article titled Everything You Need to Know About Lee Miller—in Vogue and Beyond by Laird Borrelli-Persson 11/09/23, she describes Lee on that front cover:
her cloche-covered head and pearl-wrapped neck dominate the cityscape; Miller is presented as the epitome of the modern woman; powerfully beautiful, streamlined in the Deco fashion, and slightly androgynous.
Photo: Edward Steichen: Lee Miller modelling for Vogue 01/09/1928
Lee learnt much about photographic techniques from Vogue’s chief photographer Edward Steichen.
However, later in 1928, Miller’s career took a turn when her photograph was published with an advertisement for Kotex sanitary pads. It was the first time a recognisable woman had posed in an advertisement for menstrual products. This was viewed as quite shocking at the time and effectively ended Lee’s modelling career.
Photo Edward Steichen: Lee Miller in an advertisement for Kotex 1928, Museum of Menstruation
However, Lee viewed it as an opportunity to pivot. In an interview with The Poughkeepsie Evening Star, 01/11/1932, Lee said:
I would rather take a photograph than be one.
Lee travelled to Paris, and with an introduction from Edward Steichen, she became the student, muse, and lover of the surrealist photographer Man Ray. Their relationship was tempestuous, but Lee learned much from Man Ray; refining her surrealistic style and developing the innovative solarisation technique together. She also collaborated with the likes of Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau.”
There is much much more to this story and this article!
This luscious long read continues…
Read the entire article.
All images are copyrighted as indicated
Thank you Caroline for this wonderful article. An exploration of the life and film of Lee Miller!
3. “Thank you for subscribing to ‘le Bulletin’ newsletter” Judy MacMahon
I hope to see you here again next week
Judy MacMahon
Fondatrice
MyFrenchLife.org
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I unfortunately missed the film Lee. But I read all of Caroline's fascinating article, with so many archival photos and fascinating details, such as the Kotex ad! I love the way she weaves between her own research, the film, the exhibition she was lucky enough to see, and the book. A luscious immersion as you said, Judy.
I saw the film Lee recently. What a woman!