The muse who became the photographer: Lee Miller
A review of The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer
I would rather take a photograph than be one.
Lee Miller
Photography.
It has always been a fascinating field to me. A moment in time. Captured. Frozen. You can come back to it a hundred times, and every time you will find something new that captures your attention. The angle. The shadows. The light.
A couple of days ago a familiar name popped back up on my radar, as I was reminded of a movie that I really have been waiting for ages to see. It prompted me to look back at one of the books of this fascinating and impressive woman, Lee Miller.
The Age of Light was the first book about Lee Miller that I ever read and it became one of many that I explored later. I knew of her already, or more precisely: her photographs. Lee was to me, a renowned photographer, one of the first (if not the first) female war correspondents in World War II. Her photographs were up and close, specific, surrealist and personal, she spent so much time on composing them, framing them - to shock. To get you to feel something. Get a reaction. Chances are, if you have seen WWII photographs, you might have seen one of Millers.
I always came back to the photograph of her sitting in Hitlers bathtub. I even had it on one of my vision boards as a student, I suppose it was a reminder to myself that you could do anything. You start out in walking down one path, but might choose another along the way. Just like Miller, who started out as a model in the 1920s, but then became a photographer.
The Age of Light
The Age of Light by Whitney Scharer, tells the story of how the Vogue model turned into the renowned photographer Lee Miller. It takes us through a journey of where Miller is trying to forge herself a new identity as a photographer after decades spent being someone else’s muse.
In 1929 she arrives in Paris and catches the attention of Man Ray, an artist and photographer who wanted to use her as a model. Lee, on the other hand, convinces him to take her on as his assistant and teach her everything he knows. It becomes a complicated relationship, as their professional and personal lives inevitable become intimately entwined.
Lee’s life takes us from Paris to the battlefields of Europe during World War II, from discovering new and radical photography techniques to documenting the atrocities of the concentration camps as one of the first female war correspondents.
The art in this book is how the author manages to capture the very mood of photography, from the frustrating elements of learning and understanding to the satisfaction when you finally get it. This is where Scharer truly shines, the descriptions of turning photography into art. When Lee is framing her shots, or Man Ray is talking her through how to develop the photographs to get the maximum effects - to the moment when they come up with the new technique.
It felt like you are right in there with her, in the darkroom developing those photographs or arranging them.
Where it falls through is when Scharer tries to combine historical fiction with romance. I wish she had just stuck with one, preferably the historical fiction part. There is no question that Miller’s relationship with Man Ray had a huge impact, and is a big part of her life, and should be included - but I think it could have been done without jumping between the two genres and not trying so hard to describe their sexual tension and relationship. There was so much more to explore there, but instead the focus became their sexual and well, very complicated relationship.
It reveals how little we get to understand Lee as a person and even when the characters are unlikable, with all their mistakes out there - there still needs to be a level of connection to them and at least a way to understand them. This book lacked that. What saves it, and what it an enjoyable read for me, are the parts where Lee gets to shine through her art, her understanding of the medium she is using, through the scenes from WWII. For a debut novel, Scharer really did a good job with this.
Those are the parts that remained with me long after finishing the book, and what prompted me to keep looking for her photographs. It is not a book that hits the highest marks, but definitely a book that is worth reading and as a steppingstone to get more curious about Lee Miller and her work.
The movie that prompted this weeks post, is one that I have been waiting for, for what feels like ages, and I could not for the life of me find a single trailer or teaser. But it is: Lee (2023) with Kate Winslet starring as Lee Miller. Here in Norway, it will be released later this year - cant wait!
For more on Lee Miller and her story I recommend taking a look at the Lee Miller Archives.
Until next time,
happy reading! ✨
You keep making me putting books on my list 🙈