{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1386658"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1386658/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EL8318/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EL8318/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EL8318","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Lee Miller Archives, England 2013. All rights reserved.","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EL8316","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Lee Miller Archives, England 2013. All rights reserved.","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1386658","accessionNumber":"E.474:3X-2010","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"'Exploding Hand', from the portfolio 'Quintessential Lee Miller: Six photographs by Lee Miller' ","type":"series title"},{"title":"Exploding Hand","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Lee Miller is one of the most remarkable artists of our generation: a celebrated photographer, respected member of the Surrealist art movement, war correspondent, model and gourmet chef.  She was born in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1907 and after being expelled from school, moved to Paris aged just 18 to study lighting, costume, and theatre design at the Ladislas Medgyes' School of Stagecraft.\r\n\r\nShe began modelling in 1927, featuring on the cover of American Vogue. It was a successful if short-lived career and in 1929 she moved to Paris to work with the Surrealist artist Man Ray.  She became both his collaborator and his model, often accepting assignments on his behalf so he could concentrate on his painting.  During her time in Paris, Miller experimented with different forms of photographic techniques including the photogram and solarisation, producing many of her own Surrealist works.\r\n\r\nIn 1932 Miller returned to New York and set up a studio, taking commissions for clients such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubenstein and occasionally modelling. She married and relocated to Egypt in 1934, returning to Europe in 1939, just as Britain entered the Second World War. Unable to continue her work with American Vogue, in 1940 Miller volunteered to cover the war effort for British Vogue, contributing to monthly fashion shoots, pattern books and knitwear features focusing on women’s safety and styling during the war period. Later, her contributions evolve into journalistic coverage of the conflict and in 1944 Miller became a correspondent for the US Army, becoming one of only a few women to cover the frontline in Europe.\r\n\r\nLike so many who experienced the war, Miller returned home scarred and likely with undiagnosed PTSD. In 1947, she married the British Surrealist artist and poet Roland Penrose and gave birth to a son, Antony. The family moved to Farleys House, a farm in the British countryside, where they continue to work and entertain their extended Surrealist friends and family, including Max Ernst, Elieen Agar, Dorothea Tanning, Picasso, Man Ray and Nusch and Paul Éluard.\r\n\r\nDespite her depression, Miller continued to contribute to both written and photographic articles for numerous magazines, including her ongoing collaborations with Vogue. She was diagnosed with cancer in 1976 and passed away at Farleys House on 21st July 1977, aged 70. Farleys House continues to be a site of artistic and Surrealist interest, now run as a foundation and a gallery to continue the legacy of Lee Miller and Roland Penrose.\r\n\r\nThis print is from a limited edition selection of gelatin silver print photographs printed from Lee Miller's original negatives, selected by Mark Haworth-Booth, the curator of the 2007 V&A exhibition ‘The Art of Lee Miller’. They have been printed and published by the Lee Miller Archives to commemorate the centenary year of Lee Miller’s birth.\r\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"Black and white photograph of a woman's hand on a lever doorknob.  One of six photographs in portfolio.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Miller, Lee","id":"A18139"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Miller, Lee","id":"A18139"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":"Lee Miller (1907 – 1977) \r\n\r\nElizabeth ‘Lee’ Miller is one of the most remarkable icons of the 20th century. An artist, muse, photojournalist, model, and notable member of the Surrealist art movement, she was born in New York and began an early modelling career with American Vogue. In 1929 she met Man Ray in Paris, where, under his artist guidance, she started to produce her own imagery and created her own studio working in fashion, advertising, and celebrity portraiture. In 1940 she was accredited with the U.S. Army as a war correspondent for Condé Nast Publications, where she documented Europe during the Second World War. In 1949, scarred by her experiences of conflict, she moved to East Sussex where her home, Farley Farm, became a retreat for artists and the intellectual elite. "}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Lee Miller Archives","id":"C7827"},"association":{"text":"printer and publisher","id":"x35446"},"note":"Anthony Penrose, Director, Lee Miller Archives; Carole Callow, Curator and Photographic Fine Printer, Lee Miller Archives"}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gelatin silver print on Forte Polywarmtone FB semimatt fibrebase paper, hand printed from Lee Miller's original negatives and selenium-toned.","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"},{"text":"Woman photographer","id":"THES380381"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2010EL8318","2010EL8316"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"EDU","shelf":"WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS B","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}],[{"text":"portfolio","id":"AAT179434"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c 1930","earliest":"1925-01-01","latest":"1934-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"2007","earliest":"2007-01-01","latest":"2007-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"x46159"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.474-2010","id":"O1386657"},"association":"Album"}],"creditLine":"Gift of Mark Haworth-Booth, 2010","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"28","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"paper","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"36.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"paper","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"20.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"26.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"38","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"mount","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"45.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"mount","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'The Lee Miller Archive/Lee Miller'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Blindstamp, with replica of signature, lower left recto of paper"},{"content":"'Lee Miller'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"signature embossed in silver ink on box"},{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Lee Miller Archive centenary limited edition wetstamp with replica of artist's signature, edition number, Anthony Penrose authentification signature, archive details and copyright information, centre verso of print."}],"objectHistory":"This portfolio contains the Museum numbers E.474:1-2010 to E.474:6-2010","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Lee Miller, 'Exploding Hand', from the portfolio 'Quintessential Lee Miller: Six photographs by Lee Miller selected by Mark Haworth-Booth', gelatin silver print, c. 1930, reprinted 2007.\r\n\r\nIn this photograph, an elegant hand reaches towards a door handle seemingly in a cloud of 'smoke'. On closer inspection, these are merely scratches on the glass door of the famous Parisian parfumerie, Guerlain, caused by the diamond rings of the shop's clientele. One of Lee Miller's best known Surrealist images, curator Mark Haworth-Booth believes that it acheives the 'convulsive beauty' which the artist André Breton identified as the hallmark of Surrealist art.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"Edition of 10 + 2 'hors d'editions'","productionType":{"text":"Artist's proof","id":"THES48869"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"paris","id":"x29068"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Haworth-Booth, Mark","id":"U1858"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"doorknobs","id":"AAT176901"},{"text":"hands","id":"x31539"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.474:3-2010"],"accessionNumberNum":"474","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2010,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"a.p. (hors d'edition)","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-09","recordCreationDate":"2017-03-06","availableToBook":false}}