Marilyn Monroe's Photographic Artistry Explored in New Yorker Essay
A New Yorker essay drawn from 'Marilyn Monroe 100' examines how Marilyn Monroe transformed being photographed into an art form. The piece details Monroe's mastery of the camera, her collaboration with photographers, and her ability to project spontaneity and deliberation simultaneously. It recounts key moments: her 1962 appearance at Madison Square Garden in a Jean Louis gown for JFK's birthday, her handling of the 1952 nude photo scandal, her founding of a production company with Milton Greene, and her departure from Fox to study at the Actors Studio. The essay contrasts her ease in still photography with her struggles on film sets, citing Billy Wilder's observation that she delivered after many takes. It also discusses Kim Kardashian wearing Monroe's Met Gala dress in 2022, borrowed from Ripley's Believe It or Not!, and notes the ongoing public obsession with Monroe's life and death from an accidental overdose on August 4, 1962. The piece emphasizes Monroe's desire to be seen as an artist, not a product, and her belief in her rapport with the public over Hollywood.
Key facts
- Marilyn Monroe wore a Jean Louis gown to sing 'Happy Birthday' to JFK at Madison Square Garden in May 1962.
- Kim Kardashian wore the same gown to the 2022 Met Gala, borrowed from Ripley's Believe It or Not! archives.
- Monroe posed for nude photographs in 1949 for $50 to pay rent; the scandal broke in 1952 and she admitted it pragmatically.
- Monroe founded her own production company with photographer Milton Greene in New York.
- She studied at the Actors Studio and underwent psychoanalysis in New York in 1954.
- Monroe died on August 4, 1962 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.
- The essay cites photographer Burt Glinn saying Monroe 'had no bone structure' but could project.
- Monroe told Life editor Richard Meryman in her final interview that an actor is 'not a machine' but a 'sensitive instrument.'
Entities
Artists
- Marilyn Monroe
- Kim Kardashian
- Jean Louis
- Bob Mackie
- Burt Glinn
- Milton Greene
- Billy Wilder
- Laurence Olivier
- Arthur Miller
- Nunnally Johnson
- Richard Meryman
- Daphne Merkin
- Lisa Cohen
- Michelle Vogel
- John F. Kennedy
Institutions
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Met Gala
- Madison Square Garden
- Twentieth Century Fox
- Actors Studio
- Ripley's Believe It or Not!
- Costume Institute
- Life magazine
- Yale Journal of Criticism
- Vogue
- The New Yorker
Locations
- New York City
- Los Angeles
- Brentwood
- Mexico
- Niagara Falls
- Hollywood
- Madison Square Garden
- Metropolitan Museum of Art