About Bert Stern
Bert Stern conceived of his ultimate
photographic
romance with a vivacious woman on his flight
to Rome in thespring of 1962. He was at the
height of
his success, eagerly sought after
by art directors and fashion editors,
and able
to gain access to nearly
any
celebrity-
so why not America’s
leading sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe. Bert Stern wanted more than a historically conic image of the movie
star: “ What I wanted
from Marilyn Monroe was the nudes because
I couldn’t think of anything to put on her.”In his book
The Last Sitting,
Bert Stern commented, “ I was preparing for
Marilyn’s arrival like a lover, and yet
I was here
to take photographs. Not to take her
in my arms, but to turn her into tones,
and planes, and shapes, and ultimately
an image for the
printed page.”
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