Marilyn Monroe: The Complete Last Sitting (Hardcover)

by Bert Stern (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Bert Stern / Marilyn Monroe: The Complete Last Sitting

Bert Stern, the famous commercial and fashion photographer of the 60s, was the last to be granted a sitting by Marilyn Monroe six weeks before her tragic death. The three-day session yielded nearly 2,600 pictures—fashion, portrait, and nude studies—of indescribable sensual and human vibrancy, of which no more than 20 were published. And yet these few photographs ineradicably shaped our image of Marilyn Monroe. This book presents the complete set of 2,571 photos. The monumental body of work by the master photographer and the Hollywood actress marks a climax in the history of star photography, both in quantity and quality. It is a unique affirmation of the erotic dimension of photography and the eroticism of taking photos, and it is the world’s finest and largest tribute to Marilyn Monroe.

Text by Bert Stern --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher
The more than 2,500 shots that make up this monumental classic tribute to actress Marilyn Monroe were taken by renowned fashion photographer Bert Stern over the course of a three-day sitting—the last time Marilyn would pose in front of a camera. Six weeks later, the actress was found dead in her home. Even despite the ominous facts surrounding this sitting, the images it produced project a haunting, almost dreamlike quality unlike any photographs ever taken of the starlet. In front of the camera, Marilyn was known to possess an incredible chameleon-like ability to transform herself into whatever role she was meant to play. In these pages she is goddess, siren, child, woman, femme fatale and dream date. Yet there is an air of desperation about these photos as well.

In his fascinating foreword to the book, Bert Stern looks back on that momentous sitting, offering a revealing, naked portrait of Marilyn the person—of a vulnerable, confused woman who although at the apex of her career, had relinquished control of her life—and of the fashion world of the early 1960s, with its new openness towards drugs, sex, and art. From the glamorous, sophisticated photos which Vogue would publish in a black-and-white “memorial” spread, to the less restrained color shots which Stern coaxed out of Marilyn during an intense, exhausting session, this collection covers nearly every aspect of modern photography: portraiture, fashion-driven, erotic, and artistic. But more than a comprehensive display of Stern’s immeasurable talents, these photographs combine to create an homage to America’s first goddess. A woman we invented, but whom we could never really know.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Te Neues Publishing Company (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3823854836
• ISBN-13: 978-3823854838
• Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 11.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,489,995 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars stunning..., July 14, 2003

By	Elizabeth Roberts-Zibbel (bowling green ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This collection of photographs from Marilyn's last official sitting is haunting and extraordinary. The pictures show so many different sides of her, and I think that Stern did a fabulous job capturing them with the clothes, scarves, and props he provided. His introduction is interesting and gives the reader an idea of what it would be like to work with Marilyn in that way; however, he seems to fall under the Marilyn love spell, like every other man who encountered her, and becomes maudlin imagining a romantic encounter. I have to add that seeing the damage that Marilyn did to the negatives she didn't like gave me goosebumps; it is chilling to know that she thought so little of herself, especially so close to death.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holds true, September 6, 2001

By	K. S. Pettry (Charleston WV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Buy this book, run everybody off, pour yourself a glass of wine and vist Marilyn. There are no retouches here. You can look at these pictures and see how she would have grown and changed had she lived. She looked high and rough in some photos which makes her seem like a real person instead of a product. It's Marilyn at work giving us Marilyn but you can be privy to a sort of behind the scenes element that makes you feel like you were there.

Stern's introduction is a little heavy. He comes off like deifying Marilyn deifies him and when he plays up the sexual tension he percieved between them he seems a tad naive or maybe boastful. She was just doing what she did best. I think he had his camera confused with himself. I'll bet she was just downing Dom and being pure Marilin and it translates better than any glam portrait sitting.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEG,STEAL OR BORROW TO GET THE MONEY TO BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!, April 16, 2001

By	S.G. (jersey shore) - See all my reviews

If you are any kind of Marilyn fan at all...then you need to have this extraordinary book!!! The hefty pricetag is well worth it. My favorite photos in the book are of Bert Stern's and Marilyn's first session together (with the see-thru scarves)because it has lots of fine close-ups of Marilyn's face. I also like the "bed" series that took place at the end of their second session. I was less thrilled with the fashion shots because i feel that the people at vogue had some odd ideas about what clothing to put Marilyn in...all those black dresses and stiff poses felt unnatural to me. But those photos also showcase Marilyn in a different light altogether...and that makes them interesting. I can never get enough of looking at this book and i wish they had the space to enlarge every single photo..but i guess that's being a little greedy!!! hahaha Marilyn was an incredible beauty and i think this book shows that fact of well.