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BERT STERN (1929-2013): Marilyn Monroe in black dress.

Currency:GBP Category:Collectibles Start Price:NA Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,000.00 GBP
BERT STERN (1929-2013): Marilyn Monroe in black dress.
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Title: MM in black dress
Photographer: Bert Stern
Edition: 4/12
Subject: The last sittings (Vogue) 1962, printed later
Signed: Photographer Bert Stern, copyright stamped and dated on verso, Supplied with Bert Stern coa.
Framed: Yes, condition - small crayon mark on left side of paper, and small mark near signature on front.


By the time of the shoot, Bert Stern had already developed a name for himself as a fashion and advertisement superstar photographer.
Stern had mustered up the courage and clout to realize a project he had long sought after. Stern's studio contacted Marilyn Monroe and she agreed to do a shoot with the photographer. After the approval of Vogue magazine, the photo shoot would take place at the most secluded, private, beautiful hotel in L.A. The Bel-Air Hotel.

I was going to photograph Marilyn Monroe. All I had to do was figure out how to get what I wanted: pure Marilyn, nude. But I didn't know how to approach her with that idea. Maybe the only way I was going to get it was through illusion: screens, veils. So, I went to Vogue and said, Can you get me some scarves? Scarves you can see through with geometrics. And jewellery. Jewellery doesn't need too many clothes, right?

The photo shoot is the culmination of a fantasy and a love affair. Bert Stern had idolized Marilyn Monroe since he met her at a party for the Actor's Studio in 1955. He now finally had the opportunity to photograph Monroe and so great was his infatuation with the actress, that he referred to setting up his photo shoot as, preparing for Marilyn's arrival like a lover, and yet I was here to take photographs. Not to take her into my arms, but to turn her into tones.

In his brilliantly revealing images, Stern camouflages his desire behind the camera, bestowing the viewer with the same power of admiration and focus as the photographer, while bringing the viewer there with him, into that moment. The intimacy in the photographs curtails the separation between the celebrity and the person; in this penetrating and self-indulgent shoot, the viewer gets a closer, more authentic, and liberating notion of the woman behind the lens. Monroe's playful, inviting, and gracious posture flirts with the longing gaze of the photographer, presenting the exclusive and compassionate attention of a lover. The resultant images capture a potent but fleeting imaginary love affair, this time fortuitously caught on film by Stern.

Bert Stern's daring attitude in creating a unique Vogue spread combined with his adoration for the actress produced fantastic images that served more so as poetic offerings to the concept of love and the power of a muse, leaving both photographer and viewer transfixed by Monroe's unequivocal beauty.

Perhaps synchronicity is also at play with the images; in this candid and sensuous portrayal of the actress, the viewer gets to cherish her work one final time before Monroe's untimely demise.