“There is no There, There”
-Gertrude Stein 1937
Lee Miller stayed with Aziz Eloui in Egypt between the summer of 1934 when she was twenty-seven and the summer of 1939 when she was thirty-two. There is very little to comment on during this five-year span because she did not achieve very much of note. Her modeling years were well behind her and there are no stunning photos of her to compliment the Egyptian narrative. The romantic attraction of Montparnasse and its artists and the excitement of New York City also do not serve as a stage for players familiar to the western eye such as Condé Nast, Georges Lepape, Julien Levy, Edward Steichen and others to enhance Lee’s narrative.
Lee rode camels, saw snake charmers, skied on sand dunes and took photos of the desert, oasis, pyramids, ancient structures, family and other acquaintances as would occur with any other tourist. Perhaps to relieve her boredom or avoid the cultural restrictions of Cairo and the English expatriate community, she also made frequent and lengthy excursions into the desert. In the desert she drank and partied with her friends, continued her affairs with married and unmarried men and also suffered her usual bouts of depression, anger, manipulation, hypochondria and other maladies. Unlike the Lee Miller Studios, Inc. or when in Paris with Man Ray, Lee had no need to make an effort to support herself or do anything productive. The desert was her sandbox and for five years, she played in it. It is difficult to characterize Lee’s photographic work outside the sandbox, with few exceptions, as anything other than snapshots in Egyptian settings that could have been, for the most part taken by any proficient photographer touring Egypt.
The absence of exhibition quality work should be of no surprise since Lee was, essentially, on a five year tour without purpose (1). When she took photos in Egypt it was generally without any intent to create art or publish, exhibit and market her work. In fact, with the exception of four photographs exhibited in the last Surrealist exhibition at Zwemmer Gallery (1940) and several published contemporaneously in Roland Penrose’s London Bulletin (1940), the snapshots of Egypt were never exhibited and remained in storage, (much like the Paris photos held by Julien Levy) for almost half a century (2).
During the summer of 1937, Lee traveled to Paris where she met Roland Penrose and together they traveled to Cornwall, England, Mougins, France and briefly toured around Europe. Life during Lee’s European vacation was, essentially, a continuation of her desert escapades but, for a brief period, the western stage and some familiar players were again in view. Picasso, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Eileen Agar, Leonora Carrington and others vacationed on the coast of Cornwall and the beaches of southern France. During this time, Picasso painted several portraits of Lee and sold one to Roland (3). Photographic artistry is generally absent and there is no reason that it should be expected. Lee was on holiday with new and old acquaintances and for the most part her photographs were point and click holiday snapshots without the need for particular care or creativity. There was no intent to exhibit, publish or market the photos, when they were taken and photographs from her summer in Europe were also simply put into storage.
The European summer break, like Egypt, yields personal photographs albeit with some historical interest because of famous “rock star” friends of her former lover, Man Ray or her current love interest, Roland Penrose. Lee, however, is not presented as a “Surrealist groupie” but as a mythical force, an artist of equal standing (4).
The following year in 1938, Lee did a tour of Greece and eastern Europe with Roland Penrose. Her photographs from this period are also snapshots of a tourist on holiday and, again, there is no reason they shouldn’t be since she was in fact on holiday. These photographs were not taken for exhibition, publication or commercial purposes. They were simply photos taken for personal pleasure and use, perhaps for use in a photo album or in a frame on a bedside table.
The pedestrian quality of Lee’s “holiday photos” are easily demonstrated by a comparison of her photographs of the 1937 “Surrealist Holiday” and those taken by Roland Penrose or her photos of the 1938 “Greek Tour” and those presented by Roland in his book The Road is Wider Than Long (viewable on Google images or at the Lee Miller Archives online). There is no difference in quality or interest between the two sets of photographs. An examination of Man Ray’s “Surrealist Holiday” photos also makes it evident that he too was on a busman’s holiday taking photographs for pleasure, not art or profit. “There is no there, there” for any of them to claim artistic achievement.
Lee’s Egyptian, Cornwall, Mougins and the 1938 Greek excursion photographs do not generally support a narrative of museum quality photographic art. That being said, Lee’s photograph Portrait of Space does seem to reflect more purpose and effort following her submersion in the Surrealist activities of Roland and his friends. The correspondence between Roland and Lee, at the time, is replete with flirting about Surrealistic matters in an effort to engage and to impress one another with their now common interest and it does seem to represent a moment when Lee took energy from a new endeavor and love interest (5). As Lee, herself noted:
I want to have the utopian combination of security and freedom, and emotionally, I need to be completely absorbed in some work or in a man I love. I think the first is to take or make freedom, which will give me the opportunity to become concentrated again and just hope that some sort of security follows and even if it doesn’t the struggle will keep me awake and alive [Emphasis added]—Lee Miller to Aziz Eloui Bey, November 17, 1938 (6).
Lee’s observation is intrinsically correct and self reflective but it leaves unsaid the problem that followed her through the course of her life – she was incapable of sustained effort. As absorbed as she might get in her work or a new relationship, she was doomed to fail and start the cycle again with a new project and relationship albeit at a new longitude and latitude.
Mark Haworth-Booth, the author of The Art of Lee Miller (2007) has called, Portrait of Space Lee’s most “famous photograph” (7). Portrait of Space is without doubt a compelling photograph but, unfortunately, it is not allowed to speak for itself. It appears in Lives accompanied by the statement:
“Magritte saw this photograph in London in 1938 and it is thought to have inspired his painting Le Baiser” (8).
There is no attribution for the statement to René Magritte or anyone else before the 1985 publication, yet the “footprint” is followed invariably when there is discussion of Portrait of Space and it is usually accompanied by “one hears…” or “they say…” or similar non-attributions. This particular claim is so egregious that even if there was an attribution to Magritte himself, it would not be credible due to the massive body of similar work Magritte produced both before and after Portrait of Space. Magritte’s work is largely defined by a portal to another place/time paintings, the so-called frame within a frame, or window within a window paintings. A small sampling would include Human Condition Series (1933 and 1935), The View (1931), La Clef des Champs (1936), The Unexpected Answer (1933), The Amourous Perspective (1935), The Precursor (1936), La Invasion (1938) and Victory (1939).
The photograph Portrait of Space is described with the following statement on the Lee Miller Archives :
“René Magritte was particularly inspired by the image and used the shape of the torn fly screen in his 1938 painting, Le Baiser. This photograph and a similar version are said to have been the inspiration for the painting entitled Le Baiser” (9).
The obvious question is who “said” that Portrait of Space was the inspiration for Magritte’s 1938 Le Baiser ? Neither Lee, Roland, Magritte nor E.L.T. Mesens ever made such an attribution. It should be noted that Magritte and Lee were not simply two ships passing in the night. Magritte’s close friend was E.L.T. Mesens, his Belgian countryman, who not only ran Roland’s London Gallery, but introduced Roland to Magritte. The ties between Roland, Mesens, Magritte and, by extension, Lee were very close. Roland introduced Lee to Magritte in Belgium in 1937. Magritte illustrated the cover for Roland Penrose’s publication of the first issue of the London Gallery Bulletin (later known as the London Bulletin) and also exhibited in the April, 1938 exhibition.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to believe that no members of this tight circle, or fellow Surrealist or members of the London Cork Street Galleries group, commented about Lee’s influence on Magritte’s Le Baiser. In any case, without a direct attribution to Magritte, or a contemporary of Magritte, it is a pretty thick coat of gild to apply to the lily since only Magritte himself could know and say what had influenced him. Le Baiser is simply another “portal” painting as Magritte had painted so many times before and after.
Lives unsubstantiated attribution of Portrait of Space as Magritte’s inspiration unfortunately evolved into another example of historic contamination by a false “footprint”. The footprint has more recently been followed to Mark Haworth-Booth who states:
“He introduced Lee and Penrose to the painters Paul Delvaux and René Magritte (1898-1967), Mesens was responsible for publishing Portrait of Space for the first time. It appeared in the London Bulletin in June 1940, opposite Les Phases de las Lune (1939), a painting by Paul Delvaux (1897-1994), and ‘Exile’, a poem by Paul Éluard. Lee’s The Native was also published, beside Fulcrum (1939), a painting by John Tunnard, and a prose poem by Mesens himself. There is surely a touch of René Magritte’s Surreal illusionism in Portrait of Space, the senses of a layer of reality peeling away to reveal a vision, a dream or yet another layer. If the influence of Magritte on Miller is a moot point, there is little doubt – thanks to the brilliant detective work of the late David Sylvester – that Miller inspired Magritte. The Belgian painter saw Portrait of Space, on a visit to Roland Penrose in London in April 1938. By then it was hanging in Penrose’s house in Hampstead. Lee’s photograph became the basis of Magritte’s painting Le Baiser (1938)” [Emphasis added] (10).
The Haworth-Booth passage is often cited by art historians and academics discussing Portrait of Space. Yet Haworth-Booth merely claims that Magritte saw the photograph before leapfrogging to the unsubstantiated declaration, that it “became the basis of Magritte’s painting.” A plain reading of the passage makes little sense:
“There is surely a touch of René Magritte’s Surreal illusionism in Portrait of Space, the senses of a layer of reality peeling away to reveal a vision, a dream or yet another layer. If the influence of Magritte on Miller is a moot point…” (Supra)
If there is “…surely a touch…” of Magritte in the photograph, how, and why, is Magritte’s influence a “moot point”?
Furthermore, if “ there is little doubt… that Miller inspired Magritte,” how do we end up with Portrait of Space becoming “the basis of Magritte’s painting Le Baiser”? [Emphasis added] (Supra). Absent direct original source attribution – we don’t . Aside from the inherent conflict within the corners of the Haworth-Booth passage, the authority cited by Haworth-Booth, David Sylvester, one of the author’s of Catalogue, Oil Painting and Object, René Magritte: Catalogue Raisonné Vol. II (1993), does not support his conclusion. David Sylvester’s “detective work” was merely a question to Roland Penrose in 1976 as to whether Magritte “…could have seen…” Portrait of Space when Magritte visited Penrose’s Hampstead home in April 1938. Penrose simply indicated that the photograph hung from a wall in his home, but not that Magritte had seen it. This is contrary to Haworth-Booth’s assertion that Magritte “saw Portrait of Space.” There is also no indication that Magritte acknowledged the photograph or commented on it then, or ever, during his lifetime. Sylvester concludes that if Magritte saw the photograph it, ‘seems possible” that it might have inspired him to paint Le Baiser (11).
The concise, and direct answer, to the question of “who said” that Portrait of Space is “thought to have inspired his painting entitled Le Baiser” is – no one. Even with the 2007 introduction of Haworth-Booth’s declaration some twenty years later that, “Lee’s photograph became the basis of Magritte’s painting Le Baiser (1938)” the answer remains the same due to the inherent contradictions within his declaration and the authority which he inaccurately sites. There is no “they say” or “one hears” or “it is believed” or other such non-attribution that serve to flip speculation into fact for either the 1985 claim or 2007 declaration. By definition “doubt” introduces merely the speculative possibility that the photograph was the basis of the painting, not even probability, let alone certainty.
The trail is not difficult to follow. David Sylvester saw Portrait of Space in the June 1940 London Bulletin and wrote to Roland Penrose to ask if Magritte could have seen the photograph before he painted Le Baiser in 1938. Roland replied that the photograph had hung in his house in 1938. Sylvester concluded that if Magritte saw the photograph, that it would seem possible that the photograph inspired Le Baiser. This evolves into Antony Penrose’s 1985 claim that the photograph “is thought to have inspired his [Magritte’s] painting” which Hayworth- Booth follows with his declaration that Magritte did see the photograph at Roland’s house which means that it was “…the basis of the painting Le Baiser”. Thus, the lily is gilded with Lee inspiring one of the masters of Surrealism. Nonetheless, the Magritte story is accepted “hook, line and sinker” by art historians as they have accepted other footprints in the Lives narrative.
An important take-away from Sylvester’s work, which should not be overlooked, is that he corresponded with Roland Penrose in 1976 while Lee was still alive and in the same time frame that she was working with Mario Amaya on her biography. Lee also corresponded with Sylvester but only on the subject of the location of where the photograph was taken. Still, neither Roland nor Lee drew a nexus between Magritte and the photograph in their respective lifetimes, including in what Roland wrote about Lee’s achievements in his biographical book, Scrapbook. Yet, Sylvester’s inquiry did introduce the issue into the Penrose household and that may explain how a Magritte connection found its way into Antony Penrose’s 1985 Lives some twenty plus years before Haworth-Booth’s declaration. It is also worth noting that Antony Penrose had access to this exchange of correspondence through the estate of Roland Penrose after he died and before the first ever appearance of the Magritte connection in his 1985 book Lives.
Haworth-Booth’s book, The Art of Lee Miller was published in conjunction with the Victoria and Albert Museum 2007 exhibition of the same name. Haworth-Booth worked very closely with Antony Penrose, including a summer tour together throughout the United States and another research tour in France. It may be during this trip that the 1976 seed was planted that eventually sprouted into the Haworth-Booth declaration that Lee’s photo “was the basis of Magritte’s painting” (12).
At any rate, it requires pure speculation to accept that Lee was influenced by Magritte or that Magritte was influenced by Lee. It is certain, however, that Magritte painted the portal theme many times before Lee took her photograph. Here there is no need for speculation, Magritte’s prior portal paintings demonstrate that the inspiration was his own.
Leaving aside the credibility of the narrative constructed around the Lives of Lee Miller, in a final analysis, an assessment of her artistic accomplishments in photography requires an examination of the quantity and quality of her artistry detached from her beauty and the myth. Between Lee’s 1934 exodus to Egypt and her subsequent 1939 flight to London, the quantity of product to evaluate is slight. Quality in art is always subjective, but in order to separate her fine art photographs from her holiday snapshots, guidance may be obtained by a side-by-side analysis of which photographs her contemporaries selected for exhibition and publication and those which today’s commentators choose.
Portrait of Space was first published in the June 1940 edition of Roland Penrose’s London Bulletin. Not surprisingly, it is always referenced in post 1985 discussions of Lee’s Egyptian years.
Photographs that are currently frequently published are Stairway, Egypt (Surrealism Today Exhibition, Zwemmer Gallery, 1940); The Processional a/k/a Bird Tracts in Sand, (Zwemmer, 1940); On the Road a/k/a Roumania, (Zwemmer, 1940); Eileen Agar, Brighton (London Bulletin 1940); The Native a/k/a Cockrock (London Bulletin 1940) and From the Top of the Great Pyramid (1930) not previously shown (London Bulletin, 1940).
There are a few other photographs that are referenced occasionally that were not previously exhibited or published in 1940, but nothing that compels attention other than, perhaps Dunes (1934-1939) and Cotton Stacks (1936).
At first glance, it may seem uncanny that Roland Penrose, E.L.T. Mesens and Lee selected the same core photographs to focus on, as today’s commentators also do. In reality, it is not surprising that the core photographs would be selected in 1940 are the same as today because there are so few photographs from which to choose. It is also not surprising that these same photographs are recycled through all the books, exhibitions, articles and treatises dealing with the subject.
Egypt did not yield a portfolio of any significance resulting from Lee’s five year sojourn. There is, however, Portrait of Space and, so perhaps, it is more appropriate to say “There is Not Much There, There.”
Footnotes
(1) “Lee embarked on marriage as if it were a holiday…the struggle to maintain her studio was behind her”
Burke, Carolyn (2005). Lee Miller: A Life. Knopf, New York (page 145)
(2) Surrealism Today (June, 1940) Exhibition Zwemmer Gallery.
Exhibited Photos:
Stairway Egypt (1936)
On the Road a/k/a Roumania (1938)
Snail Shells a/k/a Libya (1936)
Bird Tracks in the Sand a/k/a The Procession a/k/a Sinai (1937)
Published in the June 1940 London Bulletin:
Paired photographs of Max Ernst and Leonora Carrington wall sculptures (also exhibited at Zwemmers)
A Portrait of Space (1937)
Profile of Dora Marr (1937)
The Native a/ka Cockrock (1939)
Eileen Agar (1937)
A sum total of 10 photographs published or exhibited between 1934 and Lee’s death in 1977 from her Egyptian years.
(3) It is noteworthy that Picasso never again painted a portrait of Lee Miller despite their subsequent 35-year acquaintance.
(4) The term “Surrealist Groupie” is borrowed from Alex Danchev who, in turn, borrowed it from George Melly. The reference is to Sheila Legge who was the face of the 1936 International Surrealistic Exhibition in London. In conjunction with Salvador Dali, she put on a performance show in Trafalgar Square as the Phantom of Sex Appeal wearing a white satin dress, carrying a pork chop and artificial leg and wearing a head dress of flowers coving her face. Like Lee, she was very beautiful and a model and had affairs with Surrealists allegedly including Roland Penrose and Magritte.
See: Danchev, Alex (2021) Magritte A Life Pantheon (page 268) & Melly, George (1997) Don’t Tell Sybil Random House UK (page 35)
(5) Burke, Carolyn (2005) Lee Miller: A Life. Knopf, New York (pages 176-180)
(6) Penrose, Antony (1985) The Lives of Lee Miller Thames & Hudson (pages 90-91)
(7) Haworth-Booth, Mark (2007) The Art of Lee Miller V & A Publications
(8) Penrose, Antony (1985) The Lives of Lee Miller Thames & Hudson (page 69)
(9) Lee Miller Archives online, see Portrait of Space and annotation. Haworth- Booth also terms it her “definitive image of Egypt”
Haworth-Booth, Mark (Spring 2007) “On The Art of Lee Miller” Aperture (pages 50-53)
(10) Haworth-Booth, Mark (2007)The Art of Lee Miller V & A Publications (page 141)
(11) Sylvester, David & Whitfield, Sarah (1993) Catalogue, Oil Painting and Object, René Magritte: Catalogue Raisonné Vol. II The Menil Foundation, Philip Wilson Publishers London (page 265)
“It seems possible that the painting was inspired by a Lee Miller photograph, Portrait of Space, which was hanging on the wall at Roland Penrose’s house in Hampstead at the time Magritte visited it in April 1938, according to Penrose in reply to our question in 1976 whether Magritte could have seen this photograph before its publication in London Bulletin no. 18-20, in June 1940. The photograph, Lee Miller told us in a letter of May 1976, had been taken ‘halfway to Siwa in the Western Desert…It was in a screened bungalow which is put at the service of travelling officials…the square was probably to reach through the mosquito netting to latch or unlatch the sand storm shutters” [Emphasis added].
There is reason to question Roland Penrose’s memory on the presence of the photograph in his home in 1938. Lee took the photograph in October of 1937 and did not see Roland again until the late summer of 1938. She certainly did not give Roland the photograph, but she may have mailed it to him. That raises the question as to why the photograph wasn’t exhibited in the April 1938 Magritte exhibition at Roland’s London Gallery. Roland and Lee corresponded significantly about Magritte’s exhibition prior to April 1938 and in fact Roland constructed and exhibited on her behalf per her instructions a “…beautiful wax hand….with a bracelet made of false teeth…and …fur tipped fingers…” According to Carolyn Burke, Roland rushed out to carry out Lee’s instructions, writing, “ I shall choose a hand as nearly like yours as possible…and decorate it with teeth as nearly like mine”
Burke, Carolyn (2005) Lee Miller: A Life. Knopf, New York (page 180)
In his enthusiasm for Lee’s work, one would have thought that if Roland had Portrait of Space mounted on his wall, that he would have also shown it at the same 1938 exhibit.
(12) Haworth-Booth, Mark The Art of Lee Miller (2007) (page 9- citing letter from Lee Miller to David Travis of Art Institute of Chicago) & Haworth-Booth, Mark (Spring 2007) “On The Art of Lee Miller” Aperture (pages 50-53)