Photographs ©Eve Arnold/Magnum Photos.
From Saturday 14 August, Castle Galleries in Wolverhampton is thrilled to be amongst a select number of galleries in the UK to unveil an exciting and unique exhibition of previously unpublished Marilyn Monroe limited edition art, by world renowned Magnum photographer and pioneering photo-journalist Eve Arnold.
The new photographic art collection, which is published by Washington Green Fine Art Publishing, is simply entitled Marilyn and features eight limited edition giclée prints taken from photographs first captured by Eve Arnold when Marilyn Monroe was at the peak of her fame in the late 1950s and early 1960s. With numerous accolades, tributes and awards to her name, Eve Arnold was recently honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sony World Photography Awards this spring, just one day after her 98th birthday.
The sensational collection of photographs by Arnold brilliantly drew the Hollywood icon from the customary formality of the studio setting, into Arnold’s relaxed and natural signature style, capturing Monroe’s luminous beauty and her tragic vulnerability. The eight, exquisitely evocative limited edition prints portray one of the most famous women of the 20th century with six of the images capturing Monroe’s unguarded moments during the filming of The Misfits in 1960.
“By seeing her through photographs – the only way most people ever saw her – it may be possible to get some idea of how she saw herself and perhaps to glean some insight into the phenomenon that was Marilyn Monroe,” said Eve Arnold.
Through Eve Arnold’s lens, the new Marilyn collection of limited edition art gives the viewer a unique and intimate insight into the personality. It is also testament to the wonderful friendship that Monroe and Eve Arnold forged following a 1952 shoot for Esquire magazine.
During their ten year collaboration Eve Arnold photographed Marilyn Monroe on six different occasions including a two month-long session while Monroe was shooting The Misfits.
“She trusted me”, Eve Arnold said. “The bond between us was photography. She liked my pictures and was canny enough to realise that they were a fresh approach for presenting her – a looser, more intimate look than the posed studio portraits she was used to in Hollywood.”
Proclaimed by Vanity Fair to be the top photographer in the world, Eve Arnold’s career spanned much of the 20th century. It was in 1954, with her intelligent choice of subject matter and a unique fresh quality that Arnold was invited to join Magnum Photos, the prestigious international co-operative of photographers as their first woman Member.
Arnold was one of the first photographers, along with Henri Cartier-Bresson, co-founder of the cooperative photography agency Magnum Photos, to steer away from the very controlled studio environment to take un-posed photographs behind the scenes, documenting everyday life. Having shot presidents, prime ministers, movie stars and the Queen; Eve admits that she had a special affinity with Marilyn Monroe, whom she met when both were relatively unknown.
“She was going places but she hadn’t arrived,” Arnold recalled. “It became a bond between us….Marilyn was very important in my career. I think I was helpful in hers too.”
Each of the eight limited editions has a worldwide edition size of just 495 making them highly collectable, and prices start from £350. Also available is a beautiful 160 page art book which gives great insight into the career and personality of one of the world’s most beloved and infamous icons of all time. For more information please contact Gemma Williams Fox on 01902 428312 or wolverhampton@castlegalleries.com.
