The exhibition at the Jeu de Paume, Paris (until January 4) is almost identical to that of the V & A Museum in London one year ago. Lee Miller was without doubt an extraordinary woman. Her beauty, first was surprising, since an early age to his 70 years: a pure beauty and sculptural. The men fell under her charm, Man Ray, Picasso, Robert Roland Penrose and many others.

By her mid-thirties, already flooding the covers of British Vogue, Lee Miller chose to be at the other end of the camera in order to document the end of World War II. (She was one of only five female war correspondents.) Her photographs of London’s rubble & decay are amongst the finest war records. In Germany, at times her eye was cool – perhaps for self-protection – as when she photographed SS soldiers and their children, all dead by suicide. Although, when she encountered Hitler’s bathtub, she jumped in and playfully took a self-portrait. Her sweeping landscapes of the Middle East are like a lesson in geometry; and finally, the abstract female torsos she photographed can still moisten a few pants. Her knack for finding beauty in the most wretched places had quickly earned her “one of the seven most distinguished photographers.” [Vanity Fair]

Lee Miller produced some of the most powerful photographs seen this century, from portraits of her friends such as Pablo Picasso, to her work as a correspondent with the US army in World War II. Beginning her own studio in Paris with artist Man Ray, she went on to work with Vogue, and in France, Egypt, and New York, being best remembered for her witty Surrealist images.

JR is 25 and he owns the biggest art gallery in the world. He exhibits freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not the museum visitors.

His work mixes Art and Act, talks about commitment, beauty, freedom, identity and limit. He is an artivist, extract of artist and activist.

After a tour of European Street Art (Carnet de Rue, 2005, Free Press ed.), he did in 2005 Portrait of a generation, portraits of the suburban “freaks” in the Bosquets (Montfermeil) and la Forestière (Clichy-sous-Bois) ghettos that he posted in the bourgeois districts of Paris (Portrait d’une génération, 2006, Alternatives ed.).

With a 28 millimetres lens, the photos are taken very close to the person. He uses black and white to differentiate from the advertising colour aggression.

In March 2007, together with Marco, he did Face 2 Face, the biggest illegal photo exhibition ever: eight Palestinian and Israeli cities, and the Security fence / Separation wall on both sides. They posted the huge portraits of Israelis and Palestinians face to face. Through this project, we showed that he can break the limits of possible (Face 2 Face, 2007, Aletrantives ed.).

With a 28 millimetre lens, portraits of people doing faces, huge posters and anonymity, JR changes some basic rules. The photographer is hidden, does not give interpretations and leaves the space empty for an encounter. As people are asked not to smile but to make faces for the portrait, they are not subjects, but actors. As the portrait is not seen in a place where people go to see Art, the passer-by is required for an interpretation. By the surprise and the question it raises, man can revisit his thinking habits and free himself from stereotypes and prejudice. This is what JR is working on. Raising questions…

The 3rd stage of the 28 millimeters project - Women Are Heroes - has already led him to Africa in post-conflicting zones to shoot the women with who he wishes to share painful stories and to testify of their desire to live. Their portraits were already pasted in Sierra-leone and in Liberia. In 2008-2009, JR will develop this project in India and in Asia.

www.jr-art.net 

“Les Parisiennes de Kiraz”, at the Carnavalet Museum in Paris until September 21.