A new exhibition documenting the life of an “incredible” Vogue model turned photojournalist through clothes is set to open.
Lee Miller: Dressed will explore the many lives of the photographer, surrealist, model, war correspondent, writer, traveller and cook through fashion and dress at Brighton Museum from next month.
The exhibition includes Miller’s Parisian fashion of the 1930s and her fashionable dress worn in New York, jodhpurs, bathing wear and traditional folk dress from travel and adventures in Egypt and Europe with surrealist friends and artists, as well as her military uniform from her work as a war correspondent and maternity dress celebrating life in rural Sussex as a surrealist host.
Very few of these intimate items have ever been seen in public and her vast wardrobe will be seen alongside her photography.
Curator Martin Pel said: “The chance discovery of the trunks of Lee Miller's clothes at her home in Sussex is extraordinary - and revelatory.
“Clothes are so personal that to be able to tell the story of one of the most incredible people of the 20th century through her clothing alongside her work is really a dream project.
“The exhibition includes ten outfits representing key moments in Miller's life and her biography with her photographic work complementing her clothing.
“But it is through Miller's dress that we get a much more personal understanding of who she was and how she lived - a fashion model, a war correspondent, a wife and a mother. It's all there in the exhibition.”
The exhibition coincides with a new film Lee, exploring Miller’s life and starring Kate Winslet in the lead.
The show focuses on key places and times in Lee’s life:
The first is Paris and her emergence as a photographer setting up her own studio
Her New York studio photographing American art and fashion
Her work in Egypt photographing landscapes and her move into non-studio portraiture
Her later travels in 1930s Europe celebrating life and unfamiliar cultures
Her fashion photography and the arts under conflict in wartime London and documenting history and the trauma of World War II on the European frontline
The exhibition concludes with Miller’s life as a gourmand and host at Farleys near Chiddingly .
Lee's granddaughter Ami Bouhassane, director of the Lee Miller Archives, said: “Farleys and the Lee Miller Archives is excited to be working on this exhibition with the wonderful team at Brighton and Hove Museums to show these clothes and new way of looking at Lee Miller’s work.
“A significant amount of the clothes in this exhibition have not been seen before. We only discovered them just before Covid-19 and have been working on the conservation and documentation of them since then. Martin Pel’s vision for including them in an exhibition to give another dimension to Lee’s work is exciting.”
The exhibition is curated by Martin Pel, curator of fashion and textiles, Brighton and Hove Museums. It will open on Saturday, October 14, and run until Sunday, February 18, 2024.
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