This year’s 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe’s death has pushed the starlet back into the spotlight. The subject of a recently released feature film and a new network TV show, hot on their heels is Marilyn: Celebrating an American Icon–-a fine art exhibition that captures the spark, sex appeal and sensation that was Marilyn Monroe–-which began its international tour at The National Film Museum in São Paulo, Brazil on March 1, 2012. Famed artists Andy Warhol, Milton H. Greene, Cecil Beaton, Eve Arnold, Antonio de Felipe, and Henri Cartier-Bresson are just a few of the talented men and women featured in this exhibition.

Left: Tom Kelley, Marilyn Pose #4 “Stretch” (1949/2002), Cibachrome print, © Tom Kelley Estate. artes fine arts magazine

A Star is Born

Born June 1, 1926 as Norma Jeane, she received her first break at the age of 18 when she was discovered by a photographer while working at a munitions factory during WWII. Her subsequent modeling career sky-rocketed the star to fame and led to a successful career in the film industry as bombshell Marilyn Monroe, a name she adopted after signing on with Twentieth Century Fox in 1946 to go along with her new bleach-blonde persona.

Offering a visual voyage of Monroe’s rise to stardom, the exhibition begins with Tom Kelley’s Red Velvet Photos (above), which eventually appeared in the first issue of Playboy, and continues with works by well-known photographers Frank Powolny, Laszlo Willinger, and Alfred Eisenstaedt. Photographs taken during Marilyn’s early days under the bright lights of Hollywood capture the beauty and sensuality of the actress in ways that would come to redefine sexuality in America.

The images featured in this exhibition illustrate not only the recognizable celebrity, but also Marilyn’s struggle to empower herself. Along with photographs by Eve Arnold, Peter Stackpole and Bob Henriques, the exhibition includes a series of silver gelatin prints by world-renowned British photographer Cecil Beaton, including a photograph reported to be Marilyn’s favorite picture of herself – lying atop a bed in a white dress, holding a carnation to her breast.

“I’m trying to find myself as a person. Sometimes that’s not easy to do. Millions of people live their entire lives without finding themselves. But it is something I must do. The best way for me to find myself as a person is to prove to myself that I am an actress”. ~Marilyn Monroe

And an actress she became, making 30 films during her brief career from 1947 to 1962. Marilyn: Celebrating an American Icon depicts recognizable moments in Marilyn’s film career, such as the famous subway grate scene with Thomas Ewell in Seven Year Itch by Sam Shaw, as well as pensive behind-the-scenes by photographers Ernst Haas and Henri Cartier-Bresson shots on the set of The Misfits, Marilyn’s last film.

Marilyn & Love

The center of many romantic fantasies the world over, Marilyn’s love life was far from perfect as she struggled to balance her career alongside her marriages. At 16, Norma Jeane married her neighbor and boyfriend of only six months, Jimmy Dougherty. Upon his return from military service during WWII, Norma Jeane was forced to choose between her newly developing modeling career and her husband. The couple separated.

Right: George Silk, Tearful Marilyn Monroe Coming out in Front of Home to Face Reporters after Announcement of her Divorce from Baseball Great Joe DiMaggio (1954/2003), Silver gelatin print, © George Silk Estate.

Her career also came between Marilyn and her second husband, baseball legend Joe DiMaggio— the star filed for divorce just 274 days after their elopement. George Silk’s photograph of Marilyn taken after the announcement of the separation shows the actress in tears. However, DiMaggio and Monroe were able to form a close and lasting bond that endured beyond Marilyn’s death. In fact, her former husband saw to it that a red rose be placed on her grave every day, even after his death.

Playwright Arthur Miller was Marilyn’s last husband. Miller sought to provide Monroe with stability and protection but was unable to help her overcome her drug abuse and psychological troubles.

The Final Chapters

Many of the most poignant and lasting images of Marilyn were taken in the final months of her life. Twenty-four-year-old Look magazine photographer Douglas Kirkland captured some of the most spontaneous and intimate images of the actress – using a simple floodlight and an unmade bed with satin sheets (which Marilyn requested), he explored his fascination of how the actress was misunderstood and exploited by the press while still maintaining her charm and innocence. Marilyn laughed, acted bashful and looked away, yet other times looked directly into the camera. Kirkland was left wondering: “Was she seducing me, the lens, or both of us?”

A great loneliness can be felt in many of Marilyn’s photographs. As images such as those by friend and photographer George Barris demonstrate, Marilyn’s inner light and radiance was often just a façade constructed for the public eye, disguising her frequently dark moods. Barris’ photographs from 1962, showing the starlet laughing and striking poses, are some of the last taken of the actress who was found dead in her Brentwood, California home on August 5, 1962.

“I could see a sadness in her eyes; she had learned to smile, laugh and clown, even though her heart was breaking.”  ~George Barris

Posthumous Reflections

Following the introspective lens of photographers like Barris, the final section of this exhibition is a presentation of paintings and other works of art created by American, Asian and European artists after Marilyn Monroe’s death. Modern and avant garde artists such as Mel Ramos and Antonio de Felipe offer their interpretations of the actress. Works in this section take the form of diverse medias, and often reflect the artists’ ideas on sexuality, commercialism and exploitation in the world, as well as perceptions of the popular icon through the power of her image. Most of all, these works reveal the character of Marilyn Monroe as an enduring cultural phenomenon.

Composed of 126 works by more than 50 artists, Marilyn: Celebrating an American Icon highlights the many sides of this 1950s glamour goddess and immortal legend through shots of well-loved movie scenes and familiar publicity photos, biographical glimpses into Monroe’s private moments as well as various artistic interpretations of the starlet. Featuring paintings, photographs and video of the starlet, this celebration of the icon exemplifies how Marilyn Monroe’s image still electrifies the world half a century after her death.

Though her life ended prematurely at the young age of 36, the world’s fascination with Marilyn Monroe’s magnetic appeal and much publicized private life has continued to thrive over time. A unique personification of femininity, naïveté and sexuality, there will never be another Marilyn Monroe.

By Sanne Klinge, Contributing Writer

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Organized by Sairally Fine Arts & Consulting, Hamburg, Germany, Marilyn: Celebrating an American Icon is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.

The exhibition will be displayed at The National Film Museum, São Paulo, Brazil from March 1, 2012 to April 1, 2012, before traveling to the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum in Tokyo, Japan in 2013. For an updated tour schedule, please visit: http://www.artsandartists.org/exhibitions/marilynmonroe.html

International Arts & Artists in Washington, DC, is a non-profit arts service organization dedicated to increasing cross-cultural understanding and exposure to the arts internationally, through exhibitions, programs and services to artists, arts institutions and the public. Visit www.artsandartists.org.