At 38, Lee Miller was sitting in Hitler’s bathtub. Where are today’s young photographers?
Is the age of the star photographer coming to an end? This week we organised a sort of school trip, taking a team of editors and writers from Monocle to see the Lee Miller show at Tate Britain. It’s an exhibition that charts her life and work from New York and Paris to London and the concentration camps of Dachau and Buchenwald. There are the surrealist images that Miller made when she and Man Ray were partners in art and love, pictures from when she was living in Egypt and portraits of life-long friends such as Pablo Picasso. And, of course, the now iconic image of Miller in Adolf Hitler’s bathtub, taken in 1945 when she and fellow photographer David Scherman gained entry to the Nazi leader’s abandoned Munich apartment. Miller was 38 and had already lived and loved more than most. Her talent and fearlessness have subsequently made her the focus of numerous shows, books and the 2023 film Lee starring Kate Winslet.
As the London Underground train rattled us back to work, I wondered who would be the next Lee Millers. Who are the young photographers not only shaping news reportage and delivering era-defining fashion editorials or art photography but who are becoming known as stars beyond their industry? Who will get this kind of show one day in the future?
At Monocle, we work with amazing photographers revered within the media, the art world and by our readers. I also attend photo fairs and see numerous exhibitions but I couldn’t easily think of anyone under 50 who was heading for the sort of fame that might see them become a cultural icon (sorry). I asked our photography director and all our art team, and they listed numerous young photographers who they believe are capturing the age we live in – true stars in the game – but were stumped to suggest one whose moniker the public might recognise. I have asked a lot of people the same question this week and always without much success.
In art photography the biggest stars today include Cindy Sherman, 71, Nan Goldin, 72, Andreas Gursky, 70, and Martin Parr, 73. If you asked someone to name a famous fashion photographer or a practitioner skilled at capturing modern Hollywood, they might say Annie Leibovitz, 76, or perhaps still go for David Bailey, 87. Or would they suggest Bruce Weber or Mario Testino – both septuagenarians. “What about Juergen Teller?” said one person to me very confidently. “Surely he must be under 50?” He’s 61.
Why, when there are probably more great photographers than ever, do they no longer seem set to become public figures? When it comes to conflict reporting, depicting the horrors of war as Lee Miller did, television and now social media has clearly come to dominate. Plus, of course, the way that wars are managed – there has been no single defining image of the war in Gaza because photographers were not allowed in. I cannot see how another Miller, Robert Capa or Don McCullin comes to the fore.
In fashion it was once Vogue or Vanity Fair that allowed photographers to become public figures, big stars. The former shaped Miller’s career. And it was thanks to the Condé Nast title that a twentysomething Bailey was already as famous as the models he shot (and dated). He even became, in addition to a Julio Cortázar short story, the inspiration for Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow-Up. But while these titles are still powerful as digital players, the slow decline of their print editions means that they are not an easy route to fame for any new photographer. The older, big photographer beasts dominate the terrain.
Perhaps young photographers don’t even want to have this sort of scrutiny, to be in the spotlight. And perhaps there’s a positive trend to be spotted here – are galleries trying to elevate talent that’s been marginalised for too long, spreading the opportunity and focus? Maybe. But a shift has happened. In our image-saturated world, at a time when AI can leave us distrusting what we see, when everyone thinks they can take a great picture with their phone, the significance of the photographer is being challenged and the world seems less inclined to make space for new photographers to capture the public imagination.
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