WW2 women War Correspondents

 These are three female war correspondents from the Bad Squiddo Women of WW2 range.

And here they are from behind, to show off more of the excellent details on these sculpts. Look at that Rolleiflex TLR on Lee Miller.

I actually painted these a couple of months ago, but forgot to post them here. 

I will let Annie Norman tell you who they are in her own words;

Ruth Cowen (left)

Her new boss’ first words of greeting were, “Get that woman out of here!”. Despite being the first accredited female war reporter (along with Inez Robb), Ruth had been a reporter for 19 years before she began covering warzones. She paved the way for over 100 who would follow her during the course of WW2, fighting her own side skirmishing against sexism. Cowen worked in North Africa then onto England and France, and enjoyed boasting about her she kept her blonde hair topped up by mixing the dye in her helmet!

Lee Miller (centre)

Probably the most famous female war reporter, Miller had an established career as a model and then photographer for Vogue. She switched as soon as the Blitz began, as she was in London at the time. From London, she travelled further onward to France and Germany covering many distressing events with her evocative photography. In this model I have shown her lowering her helmet while witnessing the aftermath of the Dresden bombing.

Toni Frissell (right)

Another photographer for Vogue and the stars, Frissell began volunteering for the American Red Cross, stating in 1941 "I became so frustrated with fashions that I wanted to prove to myself that I could do a real reporting job.", later she became the official photographer for the Women's Army Corps (WAC). As well as documenting the European front, her work covered the women and African-American men of the US army, who had been previously overlooked. 

I will add that Lee Miller, who was an amazing woman, had lived in Paris before the war, between 1929 and 1932, becoming a photographer and model working with Man Ray, who was also her lover and mixing with many of the avant garde of pre-war Paris, including Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Paul Eluard. In 1937, Miller returned to Paris where she met the Surrealist painter Roland Penrose, who became her lover, although she was married to someone else at the time. 

After the war, she lived with Penrose in the UK and became pregnant with their son, Antony. After divorcing her Egyptian husband, she and Penrose married. They lived in East Sussex until her death in 1977.

Of course, you can use these figures as any war correspondent you like and they could be useful in other settings than WW2.