Initial Research: Lee Miller The Aftermath of World War II

For my photo/film project I will be creating original photographic images therefore I am looking at the images of Lee Miller, specifically the photographs she took at the end of World War II, as these show the aftermath of war. Lee Miller began as a model and muse of Man Ray but later she also learnt photography and became a prolific and exceptional photographer working for Life and Vogue magazines. 'She started her career as a fashion-model in New York, later moved to Paris to try her hand in fashion and fine-art photography and was then appointed as war photographer on the front-line in world-war II by Vogue on behalf of America.'(Kapoor, 2020)  The image below is shot using natural daylight coming from the large windows.  The image has been taken top down so Miller (the photographer) was probably standing on a staircase looking into the room.  The rule of thirds has clearly been observed with the three bodies coinciding with the points of the golden ratio.  

 Deputy Mayor Ernst Kurt Lisso and his family after committing suicide by cyanide to avoid capture by US troops, 1945 by Lee Miller

In the image above the three high ranking Nazi offers are laid out and Calvocoressi states; 'Leaning back on the sofa is a girl with extraordinarily pretty teeth. waxen and dusty.  Her nurses uniform is sprinkled with plaster from the battle for City Hall (Calvocoressi: 2002:P62)  The aftermath of the final battle is palpable and this is the consequence of defeat shown in poignant detail here in Millers image. The object on the desk show a previous ordered life, the telephone, the stamp paper and pens, an in-tray.  The mayor sits at his desk for the final time and now there is endless darkness. Like the photographic shutter there is a light, a moment and then a moment of complete darkness before the next frame appears, which is never identical to the last. Alllmer argues in her paper that 'Miller composed images that destabilised Nazi iconographies and explored the breakdown of Nazi aesthetic representations.' (Allmer, 2012).  The power of the image was used through propaganda from all side in World War II and now images are so prolific and with social media manipulation of events and 'fake' news has made our times even more uncertain.  

In my own work I will be looking at more research on Lee Miller and her images and I will explore further techniques and skills to inform my own photographic and film work for this project. 

References

Kapoor, M. (2020) Lee Miller: A woman who took 60,000 WWII photographs and also bathed in Hitler’s tub, the day he..., Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/the-collector/lee-miller-a-woman-who-took-60-000-wwii-photographs-and-also-bathed-in-hitlers-tub-the-day-he-b7f04f07c137 (Accessed: 18 October 2023). 

Calvocoressi R. (2002), Lee Miller: Portraits from Life, London, Thames & Hudson.

Allmer, P. (2012) Lee Miller’s revenge on Fascist Culture - Edinburgh Research explorer, University of Edinburgh. Available at: https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/lee-millers-revenge-on-fascist-culture (Accessed: 19 October 2023).