From Publishers Weekly
This collection of over 150 photographs chronicles the model-turned-freelance photographer's distinctive 30-year career, from her beginnings as a portraitist with Man Ray, through her long association with Vogue magazine. Two-thirds of Miller's oeuvre consists of portraits; while most here are of famous artists and writers (René Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Ivy Compton-Burnette), the most arresting portraits come from her work as a WWII photoreporter for Vogue (at the time, Vogue was one of the leading publications for war coverage). Miller's frontal-view compositions reveal her frank and unflinching attitude toward the world around her; the disturbing close-ups of female collaborators in Paris and the smashed nose of an SS prison guard in Buchenwald repel even as they compel. Calvocoressi, the director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, introduces the book, suggesting that the "ability to elicit feelings of disgust and sympathy at the same time is arguably what makes Miller and other war photographers... great artists." Her greatest accomplishments, Calvocoressi maintains, are her portraits of Picasso, which were produced over a 20-year period; she catches the artist, Calvocoressi writes, "absorbed in some activity, unselfconscious rather than posing." Gathered for the first time in this collection, Miller's work deserves a studied glance. 157 b&w illus. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Everything about Miller is unusual and, until now, too little known. A classic beauty, her first forays into the world of photography took place in front of the lens after Conde Nast saved her from being run over on a Manhattan street, then promptly hired her as a model for Vogue. In Paris she became muse, lover, and protege to surrealist Man Ray, opening her own studio in Montparnasse in 1930. A woman of innate style with, as Calvocoressi so crisply attests, an "unflinching" eye, Miller graduated rapidly from fashion shoots to celebrity portraiture, drawing from her subjects--Picasso, Stravinsky, Dylan Thomas, Colette, Clark Gable--images of not only sophisticated composition but also arresting emotional resonance. Courageous and intrepid, Miller then transformed herself into a war correspondent, covering the horrors of the London Blitz, Normandy, Buchenwald, and Dachau with awesome presence of mind and transcendent artistry. Most of the riveting photographs published in this singular volume haven't been seen in 50 years, or were never published until now, and all add immeasurably to the human record. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Booklist, 25 December 2002
Most of the riveting photographs published in this singular volume haven't been seen in 50 years.

Ft. Worth Morning Star-Telegram, 29 December 2002
A handsomely-prduced tribute to (Miller's) often brilliant photographic work.

Library Journal, Shauna Frishkorn, January 2003
[Calvocoressi's] insightful essay connects Miller's unconventional life to her photographs, many of which have been unpublished until now.

Choice, C. Chiarenza, May 2003
A kind of extended family-album of portraits...made by a woman whose unorthodox life's engagements...make her a fascinating personality.

Ft. Worth Morning Star-Telegram
A handsomely-produced tribute to [Miller's] often brilliant photographic work.

Book Description
The remarkable and unconventional Lee Miller was one of the twentieth century's most accomplished photographers. At the age of twenty, she was discovered on a New York street by Condé Nast, who instantly decided to put her face on the cover of Vogue. Two years later she left America for Paris to become a photographer herself. There she became the disciple and lover of Man Ray and an intimate of the Paris art world. World War II saw her as Vogue's war correspondent, present at the liberation of Paris and when the Dachau concentration camp was first entered. Her later years were spent in London and at her home on the Sussex downs, where she kept up the many friendships she had made. Miller came into contact with a wide range of people: painters, sculptors, actors, novelists, poets, journalists, musicians, dancers, and leaders in the field of fashion. She photographed them all, and many became close friends. In Lee Miller: Portraits from a Life, the finest of these photographs are shown together for the first time. They include not only perceptive and sympathetic portraits of Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Dora Maar, Fred Astaire, Marlene Dietrich, Igor Stravinsky, Yehudi Menuhin, Dylan Thomas, Colette, and a host of others but also pictures of Londoners in the Blitz, of Parisians celebrating their liberation, and of the aftermath of the Third Reich. An exhibition based on this show will be held at the Getty in 2003. 135 duotone photographs.

About the Author
Richard Calvocoressi, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, curated an exhibition of Miller's work at the gallery in 2001. In his illuminating chapter introductions, he explores the relationship between the photographs and Lee Miller's fascinating life.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"In the late 1920s, Lee Miller, already a legendary fashion model, left the United States to study photography in Paris. Here she became the disciple and lover of Man Ray, and rapidly developed into a witty surrealist photographer. She was soon taking on both portrait and fashion assignments for Vogue and running her own studio, first in Paris and later in New York. The Second World War saw her as Vogue's war correspondent: she covered not only the siege of St Malo and the liberation of Paris, but was also present with her camera when the US Army entered Dachau concentration camp. Her later years were spent in London with her husband, the painter, writer and collector, Roland Penrose, and at their Sussex home, Farley Farm." During her extraordinary life, Lee Miller came into contact with an astonishing range of people including painters, sculptors, actors, writers, musicians, fashion designers and socialites. Many of these became her friends and also the subject of her penetrating portraits. The finest of these photographs, two-thirds of which are either unpublished or have not been seen in print for over fifty years, are collected together here for the first time. They include not only highly perceptive and sympathetic studies of Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Dora Maar, Igor Stravinsky, Henry Moore, Colette, Marlene Dietrich, Fred Astaire and others, but also pictures of unsung individuals engaged in war work. Most memorable of all are Miller's pictures of victims and perpetrators of Nazi oppression - some of the most powerful images from the last century.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

This collection of over 150 photographs chronicles the model-turned-freelance photographer's distinctive 30-year career, from her beginnings as a portraitist with Man Ray, through her long association with Vogue magazine. Two-thirds of Miller's oeuvre consists of portraits; while most here are of famous artists and writers (Reni Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Ivy Compton-Burnette), the most arresting portraits come from her work as a WWII photoreporter for Vogue (at the time, Vogue was one of the leading publications for war coverage). Miller's frontal-view compositions reveal her frank and unflinching attitude toward the world around her; the disturbing close-ups of female collaborators in Paris and the smashed nose of an SS prison guard in Buchenwald repel even as they compel. Calvocoressi, the director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, introduces the book, suggesting that the "ability to elicit feelings of disgust and sympathy at the same time is arguably what makes Miller and other war photographers... great artists." Her greatest accomplishments, Calvocoressi maintains, are her portraits of Picasso, which were produced over a 20-year period; she catches the artist, Calvocoressi writes, "absorbed in some activity, unselfconscious rather than posing." Gathered for the first time in this collection, Miller's work deserves a studied glance. 157 b&w illus. (Nov. 25) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal