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Home of Lee Miller to be run as charity, son says

Sara Smith,in Chiddinglyand
Patrick Barlow
Lee Miller Archives A man, Pablo Picasso, holding a child while stood next to a woman, Lee Miller. They are looking at a cow in a pen.Lee Miller Archives
The home of photographer Lee Miller, which was visited by artists such as Pablo Picasso, is to be run by a charity

The home of former fashion model turned war photographer Lee Miller is to be given over to charity as part of new plans for the house and her works.

Farleys House and Gallery in Chiddingly near Lewes, Sussex, became the home of Miller and her husband Roland Penrose in 1949 following World War Two, and later became a hub for artists including Pablo PIcasso and Juan Miró.

Now, the family home is to operate under the banner of the Farleys House and Gallery Trust, which the trust hopes will help to preserve it for future generations.

Antony Penrose, Miller and Penrose's son and founder of the gallery, said: "To see this incredible creativity was just an amazing thing to find."

Getty Images A black and white image of a woman, Lee Miller, holding a cigarette and talking to a man.Getty Images
Miller worked for Vogue and Vanity Fair before turning to photography

He added: "She [Miller] had stood in the gateway of Dachau and seen 30,000 people all dying of starvation. To come here and grow masses of food that she could share with people was so important for her."

Beginning her career as a fashion model for Vogue and Vanity Fair, Miller would later turn her hand to surrealist photography, and document World War Two as a correspondent.

After marrying Penrose, himself a celebrated surrealist artist, the couple moved to Farleys, turning the home into a hub for art and artists.

Antony Penrose founded the Lee Miller Archives in his childhood home in 1984, and the house is now kept as it would have been when Miller and her family lived there.

Sara Smith / BBC A man and a woman stood in a garden in front of a house.Sara Smith / BBC
Antony Penrose, Lee Miller's son, and Ami Bouhassane, Miller's granddaughter

Miller's life also inspired the film Lee in 2023, starring Kate Winslet.

Ami Bouhassane, co-director and Antony Penrose's daughter, said: "When mum and dad started the archive, they never thought anyone would come to Farleys.

"When you visit an artist's house, seeing the way they live shows another side of them."

On gaining charitable status, the trust says it wants to raise funds to launch conservation campaigns for the sitting room sofa, as well as other items in the collection.

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