Brighton Museum hosting Vogue's Lee Miller exhibition

A visual biography of photojournalist and fashion symbol Lee Miller opens at the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery today featuring never-before-seen clothes and photographs she has taken.

Conservator Jamie Robinson adjusts the ribbon on photographer Lee Miller's knuckleduster (Image: Tessa Hallmann)

The exhibition has been the focus of curator Martin Pel's work for the last three years as he secured her wardrobe and pictures dating as far back as 1930.

He told The Argus: "I knew of her as a war photographer, but she was so much more than that. I did not realise she had led such a full life, and that she lived this entirely on her own terms."

Miller was behind some of the most eye-catching photographs of the 20th century including a self-portrait of her bathing in Adolf Hitler's bathtub, and a photograph of model Elizabeth Cowell in London amid the damage from the Second World War.

Model Elizabeth Cowell photographed by Lee Miller wearing a Digby Morton suit in London, 1941 (Image: Lee Miller Archives)

It follows on from the successful photography exhibition featuring Brighton photographer Roger Bamber's documentary work in the same space.

"I want people to come away understanding the difficulties she had as a human being. We are hopefully saying something new about Lee."

Her clothes are displayed in the centre of three rooms - each representing different stages of her life - while the walls are carefully decorated with her black and white imagery.

A self portrait of photographer Lee Miller in New York, 1932 (Image: Lee Miller Archives)

But each location is designed to show a period of creativity "distinct" from the others.

It starts in Paris, in the late 1920s, showcasing her cosmopolitan fashion sense as she sets up her own studio, follows with her travels photographing landscapes and environmental portraits, Second World War on the front line and ends at her Sussex home in the mid-1950s.

After the war, Miller moved to Farleys near Chiddingly, in 1949. She built up a collection of contemporary art over 35 years living their with artist Roland Penrose.

It is now a museum featuring her work, and that of other artists including surrealist artists Pablo Picasso and Man Ray.

Lee Miller, Vogue Studio, London , England 1943 (Image: David E. Scherman / Lee Miller Archives)

Many of these items have never been seen in public before, and the exhibition coincides with a new film, Lee, which explores her life - played by Kate Winslet.

Granddaughter of Lee Miller and director of the Lee Miller Archives, Ami Bouhassane 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.”