New York Studio: 1932-34

Lee Miller set up her own studio in New York in 1932. She prided herself on putting in the sophisticated lighting system and the electric wiring herself. Despite the Great Depression, she worked in celebrity portraiture, fashion, advertising, as well as appearing, uniquely, as both model and photographer in a fashion shot for American 'Vogue'.

Lee Miller exhibited at Julien Levy's pioneering art gallery and enjoyed a close rapport with the sculptor Joseph Cornell. A highlight of the New York studio was the commission to photograph the cast of 'Four Saints in Three Acts', an avant-garde opera with a score by Virgil Thompson and a libretto by Gertrude Stein. This broke new ground with its all-black singing cast and inspired George Gershwin's 'Porgy and Bess' the following year.