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Photographer Lee Miller and Kotex
menstrual pads
Not only did the photographer Lee Miller appear as the first
real person in an ad for menstrual hygiene (July 1928, below
left) - is this woman the second? - she is probably
the most important. It happened right before
she started her own artistic career, and the series of ads, by causing such
a fuss in America, might have helped that career by giving her a reason
to go to Europe, in 1929, escaping the U.S.A. for the sophistication of
Europe - and American Surrealist painter and photographer Man Ray.
(See much more of her life and work at the Lee
Miller archive and in a New Yorker magazine story in the 21 January
2008 issue. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is exhibiting her work from 26
January to 27 April 2008.)
Six pictures, long download!
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Above and right: Edward Steichen
took this photo of Miller in 1928 and sold it to Kotex, making her the first
actual person to appear in a ad for menstrual hygiene (above, in McCall's
magazine [U.S.A.], July 1928; at right, in Delineator magazine [U.S.A.],
March 1929). She had signed the model release, so it was legal, but
she was mortified, as were many Americans. (Note the ironic quote,
at top, in the left ad.) But by December, 1928, Miller was happy to have
broken a taboo, and left soon afterwards for Paris with a girlfriend.
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Above: Read the main text in an enlarged view of this ad from Delineator magazine
(U.S.A.), March 1929.
Concern about a pad's visibility underneath clothing reaches
from before this era to today. Most women want to conceal the time of their
menstruation, at least in America. In regions where women use menstrual
huts, as well as where public ceremonies are held (in Bali,
for example), women broadcast their periods. Concealing timing greatly reduces
discrimination based on menstruation.
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(c) Lee Miller Archive, All rights reserved.
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Steichen made up for his action by providing an introduction for Miller
to Man Ray, the American Surrealist painter
and photographer living in Paris (above right,
in a photo by Miller). They became lovers and friends, and together invented
the "Rayogram," an example of which is Ray's photo of Miller,
above left, probably taken in 1929, the year
the ad at right, above, appeared.
Miller pursued her own career, becoming famous as a photographer for
Vogue magazine in Europe during and after World
War II (below).
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(c) Lee Miller Archive, All rights reserved.
The daughter of the mayor of Leipzig, Germany, poisoned herself
in 1945 as the Allies approached; Miller took this photo.
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(c) Lee Miller Archive, All rights reserved.
Miller wears a special helmet to accommodate her camera as
a war correspondent in World War II. (The photographer is unknown.)
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NEXT famous woman - Susan Dey
- Carol Lynley - Mary Lou
Retton - Cathy Rigby - Cybill
Shepherd -
Cheryl Tiegs & Ali McGraw - Brenda
Vaccaro
Look at the Lee Miller archive.
© 1999 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce
or distribute work on this Web
site in any manner or medium without written
permission of the author. Please report suspected
violations to hfinley@mum.org
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