Marilyn Stafford and Lee Miller are both American photographers best known for their work in Europe. The British photographer Colin Jones’ background is photojournalism. But reaching far beyond that his artistic legacy is a penetrating and sensitive social documentary of Britain in the 60s and 70s. Both Marilyn Stafford and Lee Miller moved from initially fashion photography to more social- documentary oriented work.
What makes the juxtaposition of these photographers interesting and significant in the context of 20th century photography is how their respective works demonstrate the fluidity of the spectrum of photography. For Colin Jones his social documentary work naturally took him into the street. Marilyn Stafford and Lee Miller were part of a generation of fashion photographers who – long before focusing more on social documentary work – pioneered taking fashion photography out of the studio and into real locations, sometimes borrowing the visual language of documentary and street taking fashion photography into the street.
Marilyn Stafford, Children strike a pose, Cité Lesage-Bullourde, Paris