Showing posts with label Marilyn Monroe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marilyn Monroe. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

01 work, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, Sidney Maure's Marilyn Monroe (Died on this day in 1962), with Footnotes. #144

Sidney Maurer (American, b. 1926)
Marilyn Monroe
Mixed media on canvas
30 x 20 inches (76.2 x 50.8 cm)
Private collection

Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962) was an American actress, singer, and model. Famous for playing comedic "blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked her sixth on their list of the greatest female screen legends from the Golden Age of Hollywood. 

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes and an orphanage; she married at age sixteen. She was working in a factory during World War II when she met a photographer from the First Motion Picture Unit and began a successful pin-up modeling career, which led to short-lived film contracts with 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress with roles in several comedies.

By 1953, Monroe was one of the most marketable Hollywood stars. The same year, her nude images were used as the centerfold and on the cover of the first issue of Playboy. She played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image throughout her career, but she was disappointed when she was typecast and underpaid by the studio. 

When the studio was reluctant to change Monroe's contract, she founded her own film production company in 1954. She dedicated 1955 to building the company and began studying method acting. Later that year, Fox awarded her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary.

Monroe's troubled private life received much attention. She struggled with addiction and mood disorders. Her marriages to retired baseball star Joe DiMaggio and to playwright Arthur Miller were highly publicized, but ended in divorce. On August 4, 1962, she died at age 36 from an overdose of barbiturates at her Los Angeles home. Her death was ruled a probable suicide. More on Marilyn Monroe 

Sid Maurer's career in the world of Art and Music began at seventeen when he was hired as assistant art director at Columbia Records in New York City, where he spent weekends playing trumpet in Jazz clubs for extra money. In the period that followed, the music business exploded, and Maurer worked designing album covers and promotional material for popular artists.

His co-worker at the time: a young artist by the name of Andy Warhol.

Maurer expanded his commercial art studio to tackle a wide range of projects for the music and film industries. His position brought him into contact with a group of artists, from Pollack to Rauschenberg, and Maurer

In the early nineties, Maurer rmoved to Atlanta where he has lived ever since, developing a vast catalog of works and perfecting his personal style. 


As a painter, Maurer creates large mixed media pieces that are very much a product of his varied training and experience. His style combines bold, dynamic colors and strokes with painstaking layouts and typographical elements.  More on Sid Maurer




Please visit my other blogs: Art CollectorMythologyMarine ArtPortrait of a Lady, The OrientalistArt of the Nude and The Canals of VeniceMiddle East Artists365 Saints365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

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Saturday, January 18, 2020

03 works, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, Marilyn Monroe, from the 'Hooker' Sitting, with Footnotes. #73

MILTON GREENE (American, 1922-1985)
Marilyn Monroe, from the 'Hooker' Sitting (H-031), Los Angeles, 1956
Dye-transfer
102 x 102 cm

MILTON GREENE (American, 1922-1985)
Marilyn Monroe, from the 'Hooker' Sitting (H-009), Los Angeles, 1956
Dye-transfer
102 x 102 cm
Private collection

Many people assume this photoshoot was done in 1956 because she is wearing the same top she wears in Bus Stop. However, this series of photos was done on the Fox Studios backlot in 1954. Milton Greene and Marilyn Monroe would often use costumes from the studio to style their own photographs while Marilyn had downtime during filming. (This may have been done during There’s No Business Like Show Business). Some of Marilyn Monroe’s best performances come from her collaborations with Milton Greene. More on this Photograph

MILTON GREENE (American, 1922-1985)
Marilyn Monroe, from the 'Hooker' Sitting, Los Angeles, 1956
Dye-transfer
13-3/8 x 13-5/8 inches (34.0 x 34.7 cm)
Private collection

Sold for $17,500.00 in Apr 2014

Marilyn Monroe, original name Norma Jeane Mortenson, later called Norma Jeane Baker, Jeane sometimes spelled Jean, (born June 1, 1926, Los Angeles, California, U.S.—died August 5, 1962, Los Angeles), American actress who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s.

Her mother was frequently confined in an asylum, and Norma Jeane was reared by 12 successive sets of foster parents and, for a time, in an orphanage. In 1942 she married a fellow worker in an aircraft factory, but they divorced soon after World War II. She became a popular photographer’s model and in 1946 signed a short-term contract with Twentieth Century-Fox, taking as her screen name Marilyn Monroe. After a few brief appearances in movies made by the Fox and Columbia studios, she was again unemployed, and she returned to modeling for photographers. 

In 1950 Monroe played a small uncredited role in The Asphalt Jungle that reaped a mountain of fan mail. An appearance in All About Eve (1950) won her another contract from Fox and much recognition. She advanced to star billing on the strength of her studio-fostered image as a “love goddess.” In 1954 she married baseball star Joe DiMaggio.

Monroe studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors’ Studio in New York City, and began to emerge as a talented comedian. In 1956 she married playwright Arthur Miller and briefly retired from moviemaking. She won critical acclaim for the first time as a serious actress for Some Like It Hot (1959). Her last role, in The Misfits (1961), was written by Miller, whom she had divorced the year before.

In 1962 Monroe began filming the comedy Something’s Got to Give. However, she was frequently absent from the set because of illnesses In June Monroe was fired from the film. Although she was later rehired, work never resumed. After several months as a virtual recluse, Monroe died from an overdose of sleeping pills in her Los Angeles home. Her death was ruled a “probable suicide,” though conspiracy theories persisted. More on Marilyn Monroe

Milton Greene was born in New York City in 1922. As one of the most celebrated photographers of the past century he began his artistic career at the early age of fourteen. He received a scholarship to Pratt Institute, but he decided to follow his passion for photography instead. Although he was the chosen photographer of Marilyn Monroe, developing repute for celebrity portraiture, Greene began his career in fashion photography. he quickly immersed himself in the art world, assisting various photojournalists and honing his knowledge and creative skillset. By the age of twenty-three, Greene was known as “Color Photography’s Wonder Boy.” 

It was his amiable nature that influenced his mastery of celebrity portraiture, as he had a talent for directing his subjects in a way that evoked their specific qualities and characteristics, enabling him to perfectly capture their natural personas. Consequently, he developed close relationships with his subjects, most famous for which is his friendship with Marilyn Monroe. Greene and Monroe formed their own company in 1956, the Marilyn Monroe Productions, with which they produced The Prince and the Showgirl and Bus Stop. Greene took innumerable photo sessions with her, one of his most famous being the Black Sitting, capturing Monroe unlike any other artist, showing her truly legendary spirt. They held such an endearing friendship that Monroe entrusted Greene with her biography, entitled My Story.

Greene’s artistic career as a most-loved photographer gained him several honors and awards for his work, including ones from the Art Director’s Club of New York and the American Institute of Graphic Arts. Milton Greene passed away in 1985. More on Milton Greene




Please visit my other blogs: Art CollectorMythologyMarine ArtPortrait of a Lady, The OrientalistArt of the Nude and The Canals of VeniceMiddle East Artists365 Saints365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.