Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Age of Light
Whitney Sharer
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Age of Light
Whitney Sharer
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Age of Light, by Whitney Sharer, is the story of Lee Miller’s life, the fabulous photographer no one has heard of. It opens with Lee cooking a fabulous dinner for her editor and other guests. As she cooks, she drinks whiskey straight from the bottle, from two bottles.
Before she married Roland, Lee was a model for fashion magazines such as Vogue. Then she became a photographer in the war zones of Germany where she photographed the liberation of concentration camps, horrible to see. She got used to wearing army pants and boots. Now that is all she wears, though she is still beautiful. Her editor wants her to write the story of her life with Man Ray, the famous photographer. Author Sharer takes us back to 1929 in Paris where Lee met Man Ray in an opium den. She manages to stay in Paris when she is out of money. When she writes her father for a loan, he tells her he was humiliated by her modeling in McCall magazine for a Kotex ad. He does not mention money.
She leaves her camera in the opium den and has no money to buy a new one.. Desperate, she goes to see Man Ray who had given her his card. She hopes he will teach her photography. Lee does everything for Man, from keeping his financial books to bringing him tea and moving the spotlights around. He pays her very little. They go to a Paris flea market and Man wants to photograph her. She wants to create art, not to be art. Author Sharer lets us know this side of Lee, which the author has learned from extensive research.
Lee buys a good camera, a Rollei, with a Christmas check from Man Ray. Later, in 1943, Lee photographs war-time scenes for a new editor at Vogue, gets permission to go to the war zones, and takes great pictures..
Again, in Paris in 1929, Lee is in Man Ray’s darkroom and he teaches her how to develop her own film. Lee is thrilled with her education, and author Sharer accurately shows us every detail of this process. Lee sets up a scene for Man to photograph, with her naked body as the subject. Their relationship will never be the same again, as teacher and student.
Lee realizes she is a street photographer and takes pictures of people on the Paris boulevards: the prostitutes, the disabled, the children. She is happiest at this time. She goes to the ballet alone and meets Antonio and falls for him. She acts in a Jean Cocteau film Why does she need a man, she asks herself. This is a book about Lee Miller and Man Ray, an historical novel. But it’s Lee Miller we really care about. Does she forgive Man when he puts his name to her work? Does she stay with him as they age? Does she become the independent photographer she wants to be? Find this fascinating novel based on real lives on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
Before she married Roland, Lee was a model for fashion magazines such as Vogue. Then she became a photographer in the war zones of Germany where she photographed the liberation of concentration camps, horrible to see. She got used to wearing army pants and boots. Now that is all she wears, though she is still beautiful. Her editor wants her to write the story of her life with Man Ray, the famous photographer. Author Sharer takes us back to 1929 in Paris where Lee met Man Ray in an opium den. She manages to stay in Paris when she is out of money. When she writes her father for a loan, he tells her he was humiliated by her modeling in McCall magazine for a Kotex ad. He does not mention money.
She leaves her camera in the opium den and has no money to buy a new one.. Desperate, she goes to see Man Ray who had given her his card. She hopes he will teach her photography. Lee does everything for Man, from keeping his financial books to bringing him tea and moving the spotlights around. He pays her very little. They go to a Paris flea market and Man wants to photograph her. She wants to create art, not to be art. Author Sharer lets us know this side of Lee, which the author has learned from extensive research.
Lee buys a good camera, a Rollei, with a Christmas check from Man Ray. Later, in 1943, Lee photographs war-time scenes for a new editor at Vogue, gets permission to go to the war zones, and takes great pictures..
Again, in Paris in 1929, Lee is in Man Ray’s darkroom and he teaches her how to develop her own film. Lee is thrilled with her education, and author Sharer accurately shows us every detail of this process. Lee sets up a scene for Man to photograph, with her naked body as the subject. Their relationship will never be the same again, as teacher and student.
Lee realizes she is a street photographer and takes pictures of people on the Paris boulevards: the prostitutes, the disabled, the children. She is happiest at this time. She goes to the ballet alone and meets Antonio and falls for him. She acts in a Jean Cocteau film Why does she need a man, she asks herself. This is a book about Lee Miller and Man Ray, an historical novel. But it’s Lee Miller we really care about. Does she forgive Man when he puts his name to her work? Does she stay with him as they age? Does she become the independent photographer she wants to be? Find this fascinating novel based on real lives on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.