Henry Miller and Eve Miller on Partington Ridge - 1954 Original Photograph by Jim Healy

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"Henry And Eve Miller On Partington Ridge" - 1954 Original Photograph

1954 original black and white silver gelatin photograph of … Read more "Henry And Eve Miller On Partington Ridge" - 1954 Original Photograph

1954 original black and white silver gelatin photograph of Henry and Eve Miller at their house on Partington Ridge in Big Sur, California by California photographer Jim Healy (American, 20th C.). Eve Miller sits behind a desk while Henry Miller leans against a bookshelf in their home office in Big Sur. Eve holds a cigarette in her hand, with Henry next to her, leaning his elbow against the bookshelf.

Titled, stamped and dated on verso.
"Henry and Eve Miller on Partington Ridge 1954 photo by Jim Healy"
Stamped "Henry Miller Memorial Library, Big Sur California"
Presented in a white mat.
Mat: 20"H x 16"W
Photo: 14"H x 11"W
Image: 13 1/8"H x 10 5/8"W

Henry Miller was born December 26, 1891 in New York, New York. In 1920 Miller began working for Western Union Telegraph service where his interest in writing began. He soon left for Europe in 1928 where he resided in Paris in 1930. He continued full time with his long and lucrative career as a writer of more than 36 creative and analytical works. Miller's entrance into the writer's circle began with Tropic of Cancer, which still proves to be Miller's most famous work. Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn chronicle Miller's lives and loves as an expatriate in Paris. They were both originally published in France by Jack Kahane at Obelisk Press in the mid-thirties. Soon after the publishing of Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Miller's other works to date were published in the United States. During this time it was said that "Miller became a legendary character, a kind of folk hero, the Paul Bunyan of literature, larger than life as exile, bohemian, and rebel, the great champion of freedom of expression and other lost causes" (Wickes 1974:170-192). Miller's works became famous and were soon best sellers. Tropic of Cancer sold over two and a half million copies in the first two years of publication, thus earning Miller the comfort to live a life that he had not known before.Miller left Paris in 1939 after the publication of Tropic of Capricorn. A life long friend whom Miller met in Paris, Lawrence Durell, had many times invited Miller to come to Greece. Now that Miller was out from under the weight of Tropic of Capricorn, he had the freedom to take Durell up on the offer. Miller's six months in Greece were filled with constant celebration until the outbreak of World War II, which prompted his return to the United States. Upon Miller's return to the United States, he decided to travel the country where he happened upon Big Sur, settling on Partington Ridge with his wife Eve Miller from 1944 to 1963. The house was on a plateau two thousand feet above the Pacific Ocean. "About fifty feet from the house, the land simply ended, and it was an abrupt decent to the sea far below." At this place in Miller's life he finished the work that immortalized Big Sur in the world of literature, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch. Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch was Miller's Walden. Big Sur conjured up the concept of a utopia for Miller, as Walden had done for Thoreau. Eventually Henry Miller moved to Pacific Palisades in Southern California where he lived peacefully for the remainder of his life. See less