Marilyn Brings ‘Warhol Avedon’ to London

First posted here on February 17th, 2016 ‘Warhol Avedon’, a new exhibition combining the works of pop artist Andy Warhol and photographer Richard Avedon, is on display until April 23 at The Gagosian in Britannia St, London (King’s Cross/St Pancras area.) Ash Moore reviews the exhibit for The 405, exploring the different ways in which Warhol and Avedon...

Sandra Chevier on Marilyn’s Superhero Struggle

First posted here on April 27th, 2016 Canadian artist Sandra Chevier’s Cages, currently on display at Above Second Gallery in Hong Kong, blends images of Marilyn and other iconic women with comic strip superheroes, as she explains in an interview for OPEN COLOR. “Art has always been a way for me to express myself, and also...

‘Little Sun’: Hannah Höch’s Dadaist Marilyn

First posted here on January 10th, 2014 The German Dada artist, Hannah Höch, is the subject of a retrospective exhibition at London’s Whitechapel Gallery (on display from January 15th – March 23rd.) One of her late photo-montages, ‘Kleine Sonne’ (‘Little Sun’, 1969) depicts the grinning mouth of Marilyn Monroe hovering beside a fish’s eye. Her source may...

Richard Avedon’s ‘Sad Marilyn’ Plate Sold for $75K

First posted here on April 6th, 2019 Richard Avedon’s melancholic 1957 portrait of Marilyn, one of 35 plates printed in 1970 as part of a ‘Minneapolis Portfolio’, fetched an impressive $75,000 today in a Photographs auction at Sotheby’s in New York. ‘Nothing Personal’: Richard Avedon’s Marilyn First posted here on November 6th, 2017 Nothing Personal, Richard Avedon's...

Richard Avedon’s Marilyn: A Persistent Memory

First posted here on February 4th, 2018 Taken at the end of a long sitting in 1957, the portrait now known as ‘Sad Marilyn’ has become one of her most iconic images, and a stand-out in her collaborations with Richard Avedon. Mark McClish, who worked with Avedon during the 1990s, names it as a favourite...

Remembering Phil Stern and Marilyn

First posted here on December 14, 2014 Photographer Phil Stern has died aged 95, Variety reports. He was born in Philadelphia in 1919, and learned his trade as an apprentice for the Police Gazette. He won a Purple Heart for his work as a unit photographer during World War II, and as a freelance photographer for Life and other publications, was a...

How Shirley Temple Inspired Warhol’s Marilyn

First posted here on December 1, 2014 A signed photo sent by child star Shirley Temple to a young Warhol, thought to have inspired his iconic screenprints of Marilyn, is featured in Love is Enough, a new exhibition at Oxford Modern Art, reports the Sunday Times (full article behind paywall.) Eric Shiner, director of the Andy Warhol Museum...

Love Letters From Marilyn’s Lost Archive

First posted here on November 26, 2014 Love letters sent to Marilyn – including a lusty paean from Arthur Miller, and a regretful missive from Joe DiMaggio, as reported in People magazine– are currently on display at the Newbridge Style Icons Museum in County Kildare, Ireland, until this Saturday, November 28. The letters will then be included...

John Malkovich: ‘Being Marilyn’ in Chicago

First posted here on September 23, 2014 Actor John Malkovich has recreated a classic Marilyn pose for an art project with photographer Sandro Miller, now on display at Chicago’s Catherine Edelman Gallery, reports the Huffington Post. In the original photo session, with Bert Stern in 1962, Marilyn’s gallbladder surgery scar is also visible. Although Marilyn rejected...

Becoming Jewish: Warhol’s Liz and Marilyn

First posted here on September 5, 2015 Becoming Jewish: Warhol’s Liz and Marilyn, a new exhibition at New York’s Jewish Museum, explores the parallels between Marilyn and Elizabeth Taylor, who both converted to Judaism, and Andy Warhol’s fascination with the cult of celebrity. The exhibition (opening on September 25, through to February 7, 2016) is divided...