Marilyn Monroe, The complete last sitting by Bert Stern

"One of the greatest photographers of the the modern times is Bert Stern" Dan Rattiner ,Dan's papers, October,1994

The more than 2,500 shots that make up this monumental classic tribute to actress Marilyn Monroe were taken by renowned fashion photographer Bert Stern over the course of a three-day sitting—the last time Marilyn would pose in front of a camera. Six weeks later, the actress was found dead in her home. Even despite the ominous facts surrounding this sitting, the images it produced project a haunting, almost dreamlike quality unlike any photographs ever taken of the starlet. In front of the camera, Marilyn was known to possess an incredible chameleon-like ability to transform herself into whatever role she was meant to play. In these pages she is goddess, siren, child, woman, femme fatale and dream date. Yet there is an air of desperation about these photos as well.

                    In his fascinating foreword to the book, Bert Stern looks back on that momentous sitting, offering a revealing, naked portrait of Marilyn the person—of a vulnerable, confused woman who although at the apex of her career, had relinquished control of her life—and of the fashion world of the early 1960s, with its new openness towards drugs, sex, and art. From the glamorous, sophisticated photos which Vogue would publish in a black-and-white “memorial” spread, to the less restrained color shots which Stern coaxed out of Marilyn during an intense, exhausting session, this collection covers nearly every aspect of modern photography: portraiture, fashion-driven, erotic, and artistic. But more than a comprehensive display of Stern’s immeasurable talents, these photographs combine to create an homage to America’s first goddess. A woman we invented, but whom we could never really know

               Last sitting wallpapers for you made by me 800x600

From the book The Last Sitting:

"Everybody was working: Kenneth combing Marilyn's hair, Babs arranging a string of pearls around her neck. I was way up there in the dark, looking down on her lying there with her hair spread out.

Marilyn was a little pensive, and I wanted her laughing, alive. So I said, "Could someone turn her on, please?" Babs offered her some champagne.

"No, no," I called down. "She can't move out of that position. Talk to her. Pat, talk to her."

Pat said to Marilyn, "What about those two loves in your life?" Marilyn started to giggle.

I didn't know who Marilyn's lovers were but she obviously enjoyed thinking about them. She was laughing, looking over at Pat, and I said, "That's great! But look up here, at the camera." And to draw her attention to me, I said, "How about those two men..."

She was on, and the strobes were clicking, and the light was bouncing around, tinkling down, Kenneth came over with a handful of sparkle and scattered it in her hair. The pearls were around her neck, and she was laughing, free. And I whispered to myself, "Boy...how far out..." I really had her. The light was just right. Everything began to move a little faster.

It was coming - the moment I was looking for.

A lot of pictures I take are not the real picture. They're the picture before the picture, the picture leading up to the picture --and then I get the picture. I see it through the lens as I'm shooting and I know it's the one. Exactly how I see it depends on the camera. On the Nikon and the Hasselblad you're looking right through the lens, so the shutter goes black when the actual picture is taken. On those cameras I don't see the picture itself. I keep shooting right up to that instant when I feel, I know, it's about to happen. Then I push the button and on that black space I project the picture. The Rolleiflex doesn't do that, because it has a twin lens. But then you don't see the actual picture either, because you're seeing through the upper lens, and the angle's slightly different.

Either way, you never see the picture that you're taking. At that perfect moment you just have to close your eyes and jump. And when that moment comes, it's a zillionth of a second. It will never be repeated again, it could take all eternity to get it back. You have to grab it.

Looking down at Marilyn, I could see it happening. I was entering that space where everything is silent but the clicking of the strobes. She was tossing her head, laughing, and her arm was up, like waving goodbye.

I saw what I wanted, I pressed the button, and she was mine.

http://www.bertstern.com
.

Facts about Marilyn's death..(Click here)

 Marilyn's Funeral the last journey...(Click here)

 Marilyn Monroe's final days (Click here)

 Marilyn's kiss       Last Interview   & Last will

                             Marilyn's Personal Belongings.....