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This summer, the Hollywood star is in Paris. An unprecedented exhibition of photographs taken by four world-famous artists, friends of Marilyn Monroe, is held in the Marais district. We discover another Marilyn, absolutely sublime, far from the image of the blonde pin-up that the story wanted, wrongly, to stick to him.
Fifty-seven years after his passing on August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe remains a legend. The American actress and singer, an absolute symbol of femininity, has been immortalized by thousands of photographers during her seventeen-year career. The most famous were also his friends, even his confidants.
André de Dienes (1913-1985) is the photographer of Marilyn at its beginnings in 1945, the one who reveals it, taking from it clichés never retouched. Sam Shaw (1912-1999), who shot the famous photo of Marilyn Monroe in a white dress on a subway, spent ten years taking pictures of the intimate life of the star. Milton Greene (1922-1985), who creates a company with her to manage her image, photographed her at the height of her career. And Bert Stern (1929-2013), the one who made the "last session" of Marilyn a few days before his death.
Over the course of the exhibition, nearly 300 photos of these four outstanding photographers - including many unpublished photographs - and documents of the Hollywood star on 1 000m2 of gallery, from its birth in 1926, its tumultuous childhood between orphanages and the host families, until the end of her life, in other words from Norma Jeane Baker to Marilyn Monroe.
From Norma Jeane to Marilyn
At the entrance, childhood photos, little girl with brown curls, smiling and innocent. Then a document of his measurements and other information on his physique allowing him to do modeling at the beginning, she was then 16 years old: hair "too curly and undisciplined, discoloration and perm advised".
And Norma Jeane becomes the blonde Marilyn. A blondness put to the test, as the exhibition tells. This is the moment of the star shot of September 1954: the white dress of Marilyn over the subway mouth, during the filming of Seven Years of Reflection by Billy Wilder, on 5th Avenue in New York. The scandal of the panties arrives.
The audience (mostly male) is allowed to watch the shooting of the stage. Except that the crowd of onlookers is such that it is impossible to continue the film because of cries and flashes, the police can not contain everyone. But Marilyn the star takes herself to the game of her fans. And when her white dress rises more than expected in the scenario, the excited crowd noticed, through her white cotton panties, that Marilyn is not a real blonde ... Her seamstress doubles her underwear and the show resumes.
A woman, far from the pin-up
Among other anecdotes and little-known clichés, those of Marilyn Monroe in Korea to support American troops in February 1954. She gives 23 concerts in a dozen military bases, in the middle of winter, dressed in a thin sequined dress with braces. She will return to the United States with pneumonia and will find an angry husband (or jealous) of his performance in front of these thousands of galvanized soldiers. Marilyn serving meals to the GIs, or on a chariot, the pictures speak for themselves. " For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged to a community, " she says.
And then, what would be the myth Marilyn without the photos of Milton Greene from which is born "Ballerina sitting" of October 1954, named by Time magazine in 1999 one of the three best photographs of the twentieth century. Marilyn is still beautiful, but she seems curled up on herself. In fact, her dress-tutu is too small of two sizes and she can not close it, so she is holding her bodice in front of ... as if nothing had happened. The result is dazzling. Marilyn adapts, in all circumstances.
The last session
Another fabulous moment of the exhibition, the "last session". A historical moment in twentieth century photography. A story between Bert Stern and Marilyn Monroe in 1962, the year of the star's death. In an alcove in the gallery are linked the naked photos and full of purity of Norma Jeane who is then 36, all more sublime and vibrant each other.
However, Marilyn is at worst, but she accepts the proposal of his friend photographer who managed to sell his project to the famous magazine Vogue . They spend two days and one night together, with 2,571 clichés. We discover a naked Marilyn, often without makeup, powerful, vibrant. A woman in all her splendor, who dies yet six weeks later.
The lovers of Marilyn as the uninitiated will be at their height. She is beautiful, mischievous, funny, intelligent, curious, moving, sincere. The star, before being a legend, is first of all a woman. It crosses the centuries and remains forever an icon. As Sam Shaw says, " Marilyn was born out of time, and she became a superstar, a myth, a legend ." A woman forever in the history, that no one has, can not and will not be able to replace.
" She was there and attracted all eyes ," said Bert Stern. All the men were around her, all the light in the room seemed focused on her. Or maybe she was irradiating the light ? "
Marilyn Monroe, then Norma Jeane Baker, Joseph Gallery in Paris.
Anne Bernas / RFIMarilyn Monroe at its beginnings, Galerie Joseph in Paris.
Anne Bernas / RFIMarilyn Monroe and her husband Arthur Miller in 1957 in New York, Joseph Gallery in Paris.
Anne Bernas / RFIMarilyn, absolutely sublime, far from the image of the blonde pin-up that the story wanted, wrongly, to stick to him.
Anne Bernas / RFIMarilyn Monroe with US soldiers in Korea, 1954.
Anne Bernas / RFIMarilyn Monroe in Korea in 1954.
Anne Bernas / RFIMarilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, by Sam Shaw in 1954 during the filming of "Seven Years of Reflection".
Anne Bernas / RFIOn the set of "Seven Years of Reflection".
Anne Bernas / RFIPhotos of Milton Greene from where "Ballerina Sitting" came out, October 1954.
Anne Bernas / RFIMarilyn lovers and the uninitiated will be at their peak, Marilyn Monroe is beautiful, malicious, funny, intelligent, curious, moving, sincere.
Anne Bernas / RFIMarilyn Monroe at the beach in 1957.
Anne Bernas / RFIThe "last session" of Marilyn, Joseph Gallery in Paris.
Anne Bernas / RFI
→ Exhibition "Divine Marilyn", until September 22, gallery Jospeh, Paris.