American photographer’s images capture the ordinary, and extraordinary, moments in the life and work of the artist

Central to this exhibition of photographs, painting and archival material is an image of the American photographer and former model, Lee Miller, in the studio of Pablo Picasso in Paris, 1944. The shot, which might nowadays be called a selfie, shows the two in his Rue des Grands Augustins studio on August 24 during the liberation of the city. Miller, who was an accredited war photographer with the US army, found herself near Picasso’s studio and visited him there. He is reported to have said: “This is marvellous, this is the first Allied soldier I have seen, and it’s you!”

Despite its apparent informality Miller’s photograph is, in fact, a carefully orchestrated composition. It shows the taller, younger, glamorous blonde woman alongside the shorter, dark, older Spaniard. Picasso’s left arm extends around Miller shoulders, clasping her neck. In his right hand he holds what looks to be a cigar. Her right hand rests lightly on Picasso’s left shoulder, while the two, smiling, gaze adoringly into each other’s eyes. We are told that Miller visited Picasso alone and close examination reveals the camera trigger in her right hand, letting her make the double portrait.

Everything about the photograph shows Miller’s dedication to her art, which she initially learnt working for Man Ray as his model and studio assistant, in Paris, from 1929 to 1932. In the background, Picasso’s sculpture Man with Sheep echoes the stance of the pair, while strong horizontal light from their left illuminates them.

Given the short supply of film and other equipment it was presumably necessary for Miller to compose this shot with care. Picasso’s presence in Paris was tolerated by the Nazis but his survival was not guaranteed and his decision to remain was defiant.

Miller and Picasso’s friendship endured until his death in 1973. In 1937, Miller accompanied the English surrealist artist and writer Roland Penrose to Mougins in the south of France to stay with Picasso in his villa with Paul and Nusch Eluard, Man Ray and others. Miller would marry Penrose in 1947. Here, Miller captured the innocence, and sexiness, in a series of photographs, one of which is the group’s interpretation of Manet’s 1862 painting Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe. The women, bronzed, lithe and topless, laugh in the dappled sunlight.

Miller’s closeness to her subject allowed her to convey both scrutiny and admiration in equal measure. Accordingly, these images capture the ordinary, and extraordinary, moments in the life and work of the artist.

Until September 6, 2015