Everything about Miller is unusual and, until now, too little known. A classic beauty, her first forays into the world of photography took place in front of the lens after Conde Nast saved her from being run over on a Manhattan street, then promptly hired her as a model for Vogue. In Paris she became muse, lover, and protege to surrealist Man Ray, opening her own studio in Montparnasse in 1930. A woman of innate style with, as Calvocoressi so crisply attests, an "unflinching" eye, Miller graduated rapidly from fashion shoots to celebrity portraiture, drawing from her subjects--Picasso, Stravinsky, Dylan Thomas, Colette, Clark Gable--images of not only sophisticated composition but also arresting emotional resonance. Courageous and intrepid, Miller then transformed herself into a war correspondent, covering the horrors of the London Blitz, Normandy, Buchenwald, and Dachau with awesome presence of mind and transcendent artistry. Most of the riveting photographs published in this singular volume haven't been seen in 50 years, or were never published until now, and all add immeasurably to the human record. Donna Seaman
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