Cathy's Art Diary

Fabulous exhibition at Tate Modern on the life and work of Lee Miller. I thought I’d done all there was to do on Miller having attending talks by her son, been to Farley Farm and gone to numerous exhibitions but this show led us though her modelling and photography so beautifully and included a lot of never seen before work. It was obvious that a lot of research had gone into the show. It managed to express the joy of her early life as a model and then with the Surrealists without the shadow of the war work that was to come. I got a real sense of friendship, and although a later work, her portrait of Dorothea Tanning made me laugh out loud it was so joyous. Miller had a real eye for the strange in her images which began with the work with Man Ray but continued into the war. I think my favourite work in the show was this one of a boot and bullets. I liked the fact the concentration camp pictures were in a side room and I noticed a number of people couldn’t face them. Given Mill...

Fascinating exhibition at the Imperial War Museum about photographer Lee Miller’s work in the Second World War. The title was clever as the subtitle could either apply to the fact the pictures were taken by a woman or that the majority of them were of women. It was a really well organised and presented exhibition and I love the fact that it included paintings of her by Roland Penrose and Picasso. There was also good use of objects and it was very moving to see her cameras and clothes from the time. I loved the first section on her work in Britain. Some of it seems a bit quaint now but they were powerful and subtle images. I loved a fashion shoot of a coat with leopard trim against a map and next to a as hat stand of tin hats and ARM helmets. The show talks about the role of fashion magazines in the war not just to show clothes but to educate and encourage women. I also loved an image of an office worker in the British Red Cross HQ taken off a landing looking down and inclu...

Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum of photographs of and by Lee Miller examining her role as muse and photographer. I was excited to see the exhibition as I had very much enjoyed the exhibition of portraits at the National Portrait Gallery a number of years ago and had been to visit Farley Farm in Sussex where she had lived with her husband Roland Penrose in the latter years of her life. This is now the home of the Lee Miller archive. It was a magical visit so it was super to see this large range of photos brought together. I loved the surrealist section particularly the very clear focused pictures based on the idea of found art such as the picture of four rats called “Rat’s tails” and the birdcages in a window. One of the unexpected sections was the one on Egypt where she lived with her first husband which included a small contact print called “Procession, the Red Sea” which in the sand takes on a surreal quality. There was a nice theme running through the exhibition of scen...