THE REVENGE OF ELIZABETH: (PHOTOGRAPHIC) STORY OF LOVE AND WAR OF A PIONEER OF SURREALISM, ICON OF THE '900.
In the end she took revenge. On the most famous companion, who for all their relationship -4 years lived dangerously- overshadowed her. About the society, which has always had a damned hard time bringing together beauty and talent. Now, half a century late, Lee Miller has won. And an exhibition celebrates her as a pioneer of surrealism, icon of the 900. Lee Miller Man Ray. Fashion, Love, War (from today at Palazzo Franchetti in Venice) is a journey in 140 shots, documents, objects that trace his epic and that of Man Ray.
The route starts in the 1920s, when the beautiful Elizabeth "Lee" Miller from Poughkeepsie, 60 miles from New York, becomes a model by chance. In her twenties, she’s about to get hit by a car while she’s out walking around Manhattan. Publisher Condé Montrose Nast grabs her by a sleeve and saves her life. In a few days the girl is on the cover of Vogue. But she has other plans. «I prefer to take pictures than to be a photo», she says. So she embarks to Paris. Man Ray meets him in a cafe on the Left Bank. It’s 1929, she looks for someone teach her photography, he refuses. But the spark snaps. Lee first discovers the technique of Solarization, which Man Ray will make on of his stylistic digits (her works are often attributed to him). The relationship ends in 1932, too much drama, jealousy. Miller returns to New York, opens a studio. Man ray dedicates to her the Indestructible Object, a metronome with the eye (of Lee) ticking. In the 1940s she goes to Europe to narrate the war for Vogue , returns to Paris to her friends Cocteau and Picasso. She reconciles with Man Ray at a party. And the friendship lasts to the end.