Lee Miller's biography reads like a spectacular modernist novel: Roaring-'20s fashion model discovered by Condé Nast; avant-garde muse for Man Ray, Cocteau, and Picasso; fearless WWII photojournalist on the German front lines. Fellow photographer John Phillips characterized Miller as "an American free spirit wrapped in the body of a Greek goddess." You could also add "consummate documentarian" to that description. From her early, surrealist-influenced photographs to her images of the gritty faces of Buchenwald, Dachau, and Paris, Miller always imbued her work with a striking formalism and a restless, investigatory spirit.
– Matt Sussman