The most beautiful photo book on Marilyn ever published! All iconic images from Avedon to Weegee. Marilyn Monroe posed for nearly every major photographer of her day. This pictorial chronicle features pictures by Richard Avendon, Cecil Beaton, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Elliott Erwitt, Philippe Halsman, Weegee, and thirty other artists: her early days as a model for ads and pinup calendars, film stills that follow her career from a minor actress to a major star, famous master portraits and shots by paparazzi who trailed her every move.

Marilyn emerges in all her moods - young and carefree, sexy and serious, glamorous and girl-next-door. In a fascinating and revealing interview with French writer Georges Belmont Marilyn sets the record straight about her early life, her ambitions, fears, and dreams. Jane Russell, a friend of Marilyn's and her co-star in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, wrote an affectionate foreword.

Contents:
Forward by Jane Russell 2 pages
About the photographers 5 pages
Marilyn interview with Georges Belmont 10 pages
Plates (huge photos) 214 pages of just photos
Biography pages 237-242
2 pages of filmography
bibiliography
photo credits
This is a great book, a few pictures are grainy, but 95% are sharp rich and gorgeously clear.
I was shocked that I had not seen some of the images. I collect her images, and have a lot of them on my computer that most people haven't seen. So this is a stellar collection indeed and a must for Marilyn fans. I have the "Marilyn A life in Pictures" and still this book had even more. I do recommend both books highly.


All the necessities   November 2, 2003
sugar_pie (USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This book features pictures from Marilyn's life ranging from her modeling days as Norma Jeane up until her death. You get many of the "classic" Monroe photos here, including the gold dress, the white dress scene from the Seven Year Itch, and several movie stills. Several candid shots are also included as well as some lesser seen ones from photograph sessions. Jane Russell paints an endearing picture of Monroe in the forward. We also get an interview with Monroe. It is a widely known fact that Marilyn embellished parts of her childhood and she does so here, claiming her mother is dead, when Marilyn's mom actually outlived her for more than 30 years. Nevertheless, Monroe appears beautiful, vulnerable, ans sensuous all rolled into one in these images. You get a lot of pics for a reasonable price.


great collection of photos   September 18, 2003
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I love this book because it is pure marilyn. The book shows her at her best. There are no conspiracies, scandals or judgements made about her in this book. It is just about the love that she had for the camera. She understood the camera better that anyone I can think of and it is her element, like a fish in water. Many authors write books on her to try to explain who she was,(99% of them never even knew her.) but all you have to do to really know her is study her pictures. They truly reveal every aspect of her, and that's why this book was made.


Good place to start for Marilyn photos.   July 15, 2003
Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

One of the first Marilyn books I got was a compilation of photographs from well-known photographers. It wasn't till later that I got the original primary sources, i.e. books by Eve Arnold, and collections by Bernard Bruno and Bert Stern. So once one gets this collection, one can decide which photographer captured Marilyn's beauty the best, be it Milton Greene, Bernard Bruno, Richard Avedon, Ed Feingersh, or my personal favourite, Andre de Dienes. The photos, both colour and B&W, accompanied by captions, take the reader on a chronological journey from 1945 to her death in 1962.

Well-known photographs include the Tom Kelley photo that led to the notorious nude calendar, her potato sack dress, the photo Andy Warhol used, her wearing the golden dress, and the Life magazine photo. The final picture is not of her but her obituary flashing across Times Square.

Other material include a 1960 interview done with Georges Belmont for the French magazine Marie Claire. She talks mostly about her early life as a child before going into her adult life. Jane Russell, who was her costar in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, does a brief but generous foreword on her recollections.

Other photos include scenes from movies, press conferences,and other occasions. There's an annotated biography and filmography in the rear of the book. Each film entry has the distributing company, year, starring cast, and the name of Marilyn's character. As for the bibliography, I was surprised to see I had nine of the books used.

This serves as a cross-section of photos taken by various photographers as well as a photographic history. Good for beginning MM students, as it was for me back then.