Artwork Title: Lee Miller

Lee Miller, 1929

Man Ray

This is a solarised portrait of Lee Miller (Man Ray's lover) taken in 1929. However, it was Miller, not he, who discovered the solarization technique, which became known as Man Ray's trademark, by turning on a light in their darkroom before a set of negatives in it had fully developed. Miller really influenced his work, as he made her the subject of many more of his photographs. During 1929 and 1932 some of Man Ray's most prominent works included Lee Miller (as an artistic subject, apprentice, collaborator and muse). In this photograph she posed as a model for Ray, using her features to stand out among many other of his works. Additionally, It was Ray gave Miller her first Kodak camera and by 1930, their works looked very similar. Ray then worked on perfecting these photographs for a while until he found the perfect way to dramatize his photos and didn't release his photographic technique until 1933. (http://leahfinebergalevel.weebly.com/curatorship-task.html)
Uploaded on Aug 21, 2013 by Marion

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