Miller, Lee. Wrens in camera - 1945 FIRST EDITION

Miller, Lee (eig. Elisabeth). Wrens in Camera. (Introduction by V. Laughton Mathews).
London, Hollis and Carter (1945). Gr.-8°. 79 p. with 145 illustrations
based on photographs. Original cloth binding with cover vignette and
illustrated dust jacket.

Koetzle 302 f. Lederman/Yatskevich
112 f. – Einzige Ausgabe, selten. – Das zweite Buch der amerikanischen
Fotografin. – Ausschließlich mit Aufnahmen von Frauen bei den englischen
Streitkräften. – „Women played a vital role in the military during the
Second World War, joining their male counterparts in many aspects of the
Allied offensive against the German occupation of Europe. As the war
was coming to an end, the importance of their contributions eroded amid
fears that female workers might assume employment traditionally
fulfilled by men. Lee Miller, a fashion and fine art photographer, who
was also a wartime correspondent for Vogue magazine, sought to reserve
this in her 1945 book ‚Wrens in Camera‘. As a commemoration of women’s
wartime contributions and an appeal for women’s integration in the
postwar economy, Wrens in Camera documents the British women of the
Women’s Royal Navy Service (WRNS), better known as „Wrens.“ … ‚Wrens in
Camera‘ destabilizes popular mid-1940s concepts of femininity and
working women, advancing a view of the Wrens as female war heroes. The
book succeeds primarilly due to Miller’s use of various photographic
styles, garnered from her broad career in fashion, advertising,
photojounalism and fine art photography. ‚Wrens in Camera‘, an
often-overlooked photobook, not only conveys an image of servicewoman
during the Second World War that readers could relate to, understand and
even admire, but also presents a photographer who is an embodiment of
these same qualities“ (Lederman/Yatskevich). – Schutzumschlag
angestaubt, etwas fleckig und mit restaurierten Randläsuren, gutes
Exemplar. – Only edition, rare. – The second book by the American
photographer. – Exclusively with photographs of women in the British
armed forces. – Dust jacket dusty, somewhat stained and with restored
edge wear, good copy.