I attended the opening day of the
Marilyn Monroe exhibit at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. I would recommend it to everyone. It isn't very often that something like this comes to Ontario. It is the last stop on the international tour of the "Life as a Legend" exhibit. I had seen this exhibit in
Michigan and I found the McMichael version was on a much smaller scale. They had a secondary exhibit called "Marilyn in Canada" which featured photos from her time in Canada and other ties (ex. Canadian photographers who have taken her photos). The most interesting piece to me was a candid colour photo taken of Marilyn with her crutches by a lifeguard at the Banff pool. There was also some vintage Canadian magazines talking about Marilyn's time filming in Canada.
They have a room dedicated to the Tom Kelly red velvet sitting. It features several original prints and also my Golden Dream and New Wrinkle calendars. I also lent my Playboy #1 and it was displayed in a case in this room opened to the Tom Kelly centerfold. I've never had my items on display like this before so I was pretty excited to see them.
They also have a gift shop that I would recommend you stop by if your looking for some great Marilyn items. They had lots of Marilyn books (fragments, lost look photos, private and undisclosed), posters and other items. I got a pink hoodie, T-shirt, purse, sticky notes, eyeglass cloth and a poster advertising the exhibit featuring a photo of Marilyn with a Mountie.
So if you are within driving distance of the McMichael in Kleinburg, Ontario you really should make an effort to visit the exhibit. It runs until May 15, 2011.
