Finding Aid for the Freyda Miller Photographic Portfolios LSC.1738

Finding aid prepared by Elizabeth Spatz and Genie Guerard; machine-readable finding aid created by Amy Shung-Gee Wong; and edited by Amy Shung-Gee Wong and Caroline Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Finding aid last updated 2023 September 12.
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Business Number: 310-825-4988
Fax Number: 310-206-1864
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu


Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Freyda Miller photographic portfolios
Creator: Miller, Freyda
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1738
Physical Description: 3 linear feet (3 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 2000-2012
Abstract: The collection contains three portfolios. The first, entitled The Naked Tree (edition no. 4), is comprised of hand-tinted photographs by Miller and was produced in 2000. The second, Here Comes the Bride and Other Nightmares, was produced in 2006 and is comprised of mostly color photography with 2 hand-tinted images. The third, entitled Freyda Miller Assemblage was produced in 2012, is comprised of color prints and a DVD.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.

Restrictions on Access

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

COLLECTION CONTAINS UNPROCESSED AUDIOVISUAL and DIGITAL MATERIALS: Digital and audiovisual materials are not currently available for access and will require further processing and assessment. If you have questions about this material please email AskLSC@library.ucla.edu.

Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Freyda Miller Photographic Portfolios (Collection 1738). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Provenance/Source of Acquisition

Gift of Freyda Miller, 2006.

Processing Information

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections. 

UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9956658613606533 

Biography/History

Freyda (Margolis) Miller was born on May 9, 1938 in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1944 she moved with her parents and younger siblings to Los Angeles, where she began pursuing the arts, particularly dance, at an early age. Miller majored in Advertising Art during her first two years of college. She later returned to school to continue her art education and graduated cum laude from the UCLA Department of Fine Arts in 1977, with an emphasis in fine art photography. By this time, she was married and had two children. In 1978, Miller began exhibiting and working at Soho/Cameraworks, a photography gallery in the Los Angeles area. She left the gallery to become a photographer's stylist and production coordinator, assisting a commercial photographer with casting, wardrobe, set decorating, location scouting, and props. In the early 1980s she developed her own business, Prop Connection West, which targeted photographers and commercial production companies on the East coast and in the Midwest. The wealth of resources in the Hollywood area and the mild weather on the West coast gave her the opportunity to send much-needed props and wardrobe to these clients and also to set up productions for them in California. During these years, she continued creating and exhibiting her own fine art photography. By the late 1990s, Miller had established a studio and was working exclusively on her own art. It was during this time that she began compiling Here Comes the Bride and Other Nightmares and The Naked Tree, the two books that comprise this collection. The books feature her work from the late 1970s through the late 1990s, paired with classical literature that resonates with the images. Statements on both of these works are included in the collection. Her work is also in the permanent collections of the St. Louis Museum of Art; the New Orleans Museum of Art; the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum; the Peter Palmquist Archives; and the Women in Photography International Archives. At present, she is represented by Corbis Corp., an international photography agency, where her work is included in their Fine Arts Department; LACMA's Art Rental and Sales Gallery, Los Angeles; Art Dimensions, Los Angeles; ArtPic, North Hollywood; McLean Gallery, Malibu; and D & A Fine Arts, Studio City. Miller is currently working on a series of assemblages, which is a natural outgrowth of her photographic imagery.

Scope and Content

All portfolios are comprised of photographs by Miller, mounted on hand-deckled watercolor paper and accompanied by quotations from classical literature printed on vellum. The Naked Tree (edition no. 4), produced in 2000, is comprised of 113 leaves of hand-tinted photographs, and expresses the relationship between the human form and the mysterious primal nature of trees. Here Comes the Bride and Other Nightmares, produced in 2006, is comprised of 108 leaves of mostly color photography with 2 hand-tinted images, and represents Miller's reflections on the roles women play in society. Freyda Miller Assemblage produced in 2012 is comprised of 8-1/2" x 11" color prints and a DVD included in a black linen portfolio box.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Portfolios (Groups of works).
Art photography.
Women photographers -- California -- Los Angeles.
Miller, Freyda

 

Series 1: Portfolios 2000-2012.

Physical Description: 2 boxes

Scope and Contents note

This series includes portfolios comprised of photographs by Miller.
box 1

The Naked Tree (edition no. 4) 2000.

Scope and Contents note

Portfolio is comprised of 113 leaves, all hand-tinted photographs, and expresses the relationship between the human form and the mysterious primal nature of trees.
box 3

Freyda Miller Assemblage 2012

Scope and Contents

Box contains one portfolio comprised of 8-1/2" x 11" color prints and a DVD in addition to one envelope containing two Freyda Miller Studio printed promotional pieces, and three CD-Rs entitled "Here Comes the Bride and Other Nightmares," "Fertile Dreams," and "The Naked Tree."

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

BOX CONTAINS UNPROCESSED AUDIOVISUAL and DIGITAL MATERIALS: Digital and audiovisual materials are not currently available for access and will require further processing and assessment. If you have questions about this material please email AskLSC@library.ucla.edu.
box 2

Here Comes the Bride and Other Nightmares 2006.

Scope and Contents note

Portfolio is comprised of 108 leaves, mostly color photography with 2 hand-tinted images, and represents Miller's reflections on the roles women play in society.