Lee Miller

Lee Miller and Man Ray met when she moved from New York to Paris. They were lovers, and she was also his assistant. A war correspondent, photographer, and model, Lee Miller ran her own portrait studios in both Paris and New York before relocating to London just before the beginning of World War II (1939-45). This photograph of Miller was made at the beginning of their affair, when she was twenty-three years old. Seated on a bed surrounded by soft sheets and bathed in a soft overhead light, Man Ray produces a tender study of Miller, her beauty reminiscent of Baroque (a style of art and architecture of the 1600s to the late 1700s Europe, characterized by ornate details) representations of the goddess Venus.