Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism, SF

Man Ray's "A l'heure de l'observatoire — les amoureux" (Observatory Time - The Lovers), circa 1931, seen in a color photograph from 1964,after the original oil painting.Photo by Avshalom Avital from The Israel Museum, Jerusalem © 2011 Man Ray Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism Photos, paintings, drawings and manuscriptsLegion of Honor Fine Arts Museum , San FranciscoJuly 14 – Oct. 14, 2012

It’s rare that a museum presents two major artists whose works inform a fascinating love story.Such a rarity is “Man Ray/Lee Miller,” now at the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco.

Man Ray (1890-1976) was the only American artist to play a prominent role in launching thepost-World War I Dada and Surrealism movements, along with Pablo Picasso, Jean Arp, MaxErnst, Joan Miró and André Masson.

As described by André Breton’s 1924 “Surrealistic Manifesto,” Surrealism is “Psychicautomatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express — verbally, by means of the

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Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism, SF

written word, or in any other manner — the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by thethought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moralconcern."

Ray (pictured, left, in a 1931 silver gelatin portrait by Lee Miller; © Lee Miller Archives, England2011 ), accompanied by Marcel Duchamp, moved to Paris in 1921, as avant-garde art wasunpopular in the United States. In the 20 years Ray lived in Paris, he revolutionized the art ofphotography. Ironically, Ray considered himself a painter; he painted excellent portraits of PabloPicasso, Henri Matisse, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce and Ernest Hemmingway. Like Duchamp,Ray was also a creator of the “Readymade,” in which ordinary objects became art. Ray’sfamous metronome, with a photograph of Lee Miller’s eye attached, known as “IndestructibleObject,” and “Object to Be Destroyed,” retains its modernity. But to make ends meet, hephotographed fashions for magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Vanity Fair.

Lee Miller (1907-1977) was a captivating, beautiful and talented woman, whose adventurouslife exemplifies the changing world for women in the 20th century. At age 19, she was savedfrom inadvertently walking into a speeding car; her savior was the founder of Vogue, CondéNast. Taken with her beauty, he initiated her fashion-modeling career with the charmingillustration by Georges Lepape, “Portrait of Lee Miller," published on a cover of Vogue in 1927.

Miller became one of the most desired models in New York; she was photographed by famousphotographers such as Edward Steichen, Arnold Genthe and Nickolas Murray and modeled for

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Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism, SF

Picasso. Unfortunately, two years later, a photograph of Miller by Steichen was used toadvertise Kotex sanitary napkins at a time when such items were neither seen nor discussed inpublic. Her modeling whirlwind abruptly ended. She had been idolized for her beauty by men,but shunned by women for her daring and “unladylike” behavior.

Miller moved to Paris in 1929 with the intention of apprenticing with the then-famous Man Ray.And that’s where the love story begins.

Miller soon became Ray’s aide, as well as his lover and muse. Her photographic talent soonbecame apparent; she became Ray’s equal partner in all things artistic. Miller (pictured, right, ina gelatin silver print self-portrait circa 1930;© Lee Miller Archives, England 2011) took over many of Ray’s fashion shoots, but gave Ray the credit.

In 1930, Miller and Ray accidentally discovered solarization, a method that gave a photograph asilvery aura. Solarization became the breakthrough that propelled photography from craft to fineart. “Solarized Portrait of Unknown Woman” (thought to be Meret Oppenheim), and “SolarizedPortrait of Lee Miller,” are fine examples of this technique.

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Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism, SF

Ray was obsessed with Miller, who was 17 years his junior. His many sensuous and eroticphotographs of her are highlights of the exhibition. Through his new techniques, he created aSurrealist vision of Miller that yet retains its allure.

Their intense relationship lasted only three years, when after a fight, Miller stormed out of Ray’slife, leaving Ray heartbroken, in agony for years. Miller wanted to retain independence whereasRay wanted to retain control of her. Ray painted and repainted the large red lips in the sky thatremain an icon today, titled “A l’heure de l’observatoire – les amoureux” (Observatory Time –The Lovers). The painting (shown above, from a 1964 photo) has been interpreteted, not onlyas sensuous lips, but also as a woman’s torso or genitalia.

After leaving Paris in 1932, Miller returned to New York and established a portrait andcommercial photography studio with her brother Erik, while Ray remained in Paris. Miller andRay reacted to the coming of World War II in opposite ways. Ray lived in Paris until 1940 when,as a Jew (formerly named Emmanuel Radnitzky), he had to leave Paris before the Naziscontrolled it. He moved to California, but years later, returned to Paris.

Miller on the other hand jumped into the thick of the war and became a war photojournalist inEurope for Vogue and other Condé Nast publications. She documented the Blitz, the aftermathof D-Day, the liberation of Paris, Hitler’s death and the horror of the Nazi concentration campsat Buchenwald and Dachau. Some of these photographs are difficult to view.

The war cruelly affected Miller’s health and well-being. She drank heavily and suffered fromdepression. She married twice and had one child. Ray also remarried, but stilled loved Miller.Ultimately, the two became close friends. Man Ray died in 1976, and Lee Miller, a year later.Miller was cremated. The epitaph on Ray’s gravestone reads "unconcerned, but not indifferent.”

Many of the photographs in “Man Ray/Lee Miller” were found in her attic after her death andwere lent to the exhibit by Miller’s son. The show contains approximately 115 photographs,paintings, drawings and manuscripts, plus selected works by artists in Ray and Miller’s Parisiancircle, such as paintings by Picasso, Dora Maar, Max Ernst and Roland Penrose. Don’t miss theenchanting tiny sculpture by Alexander Calder. Many of the exhibition’s photographs are small,black and white and require close viewing to be appreciated fully. So try to visit early in the dayor other off-hours.

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Man Ray/Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism, SF

Emily S. Mendelemilymendel@gmail.com©Emily S. Mendel 2012   All Rights Reserved.

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