Lot #377: CECIL BEATON - Marilyn Monroe 1956 #2 - Original vintage photogravure

 

Artist: Cecil Beaton (English, 1904 - 1980).
Title: "Marilyn Monroe 1956 #2".
Medium: Original vintage photogravure.
Date: Composed 1956. Printed 1968.
Dimensions: Image size: 7 7/8 x 7 3/8 in. (200 x 187 mm).
Lot Note(s): Stamped with the photographer's name, verso. Edition size unspecified, presumed small. High-grade archival paper. Printed to the edge of the sheet. Fine, quality printing. Very good to fine condition; affixed to very thin and supple archival acid-free support sheet, not mount/board. Comment(s): One from the famous series of photographs taken by Beaton of Monroe at the height of both of their storied careers. Although associated with ‘Vogue’ through most of his career, Beaton’s 'Monroe' portfolio appeared in ‘Harper’s Bazaar’, for which he worked in the mid-1950s. It was while in New York for the rehearsals and premiere of ‘My Fair Lady’ that Beaton photographed Monroe. With a possibility that he would be the designer of Monroe’s dresses for ‘The Prince and The Showgirl’, Beaton arranged a photography sitting in his suite in the Ambassador Hotel in New York City on 22 February 1956. Ed Pfizenmaier, Beaton’s assistant, noted that Monroe did her own make-up and ‘came just by herself, with these two little dresses… it was as simple as that.’ Beaton later recalled ‘She romps, she squeals with delight, she leaps on the sofa. She puts a flower stem in her mouth, puffing on a daisy as though it were a cigarette. It is an artless, impromptu, high-spirited, infectiously gay performance. It will probably end in tears.’ The session produced one of Monroe’s favorite portraits, which hung in her New York apartment that she shared with her third husband, Arthur Miller. Image copyright © The Estate of Cecil Beaton. [28973-2-300]