Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain

Lee Miller (1907-1977) attracts enduring fascination – a female pioneer who is often presented as a singular figure. However, she was also integrated within a creative network of artists that helped change the course of art history in the twentieth century.

Miller moved to London in the late 1930s, just as a rich strand of Surrealist practice was burgeoning in Britain. Part of this artistic hub, she captured productive collisions between the artists who found themselves in Britain during the 1930s and 1940s through her photographs. Additionally, she exhibited alongside British Surrealists such as Eileen Agar and Henry Moore in often overlooked London exhibitions, while also dispersing Surrealist imagery into the worlds of fashion, commercial photography and journalism via her interdisciplinary photographic practice.

Presenting for the first time Lee Miller’s photographs of, and collaborations with, important Surrealist artists working in Britain (alongside their artworks), this important book tells the story of an exciting cultural moment. Essential for all students and enthusiasts of Surrealism and those enthralled by the striking photography of Lee Miller, this book reveals the social and cultural networks in which she was embedded, offering a holistic view of her work and the life of the Surrealist movement in Britain.