Photo: wallyg / Flickr

Photos of Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold – renowned photographer and trusted friend of Monroe – are on display in the UK. The rare pictures were taken between 1952 and the early sixties, and many feel that they show a side of Marilyn Monroe that the world isn’t used to seeing. Some of the pictures are in black and white and others in colour, and a limited number of prints of the rare photos will be on sale.

The Misfits

A number of the pictures in the collection were taken during the filming of Monroe’s last completed film, The Misfits. She’s seen browsing through a script, rehearsing her lines, and in her trailer preparing to appear in front of the camera. The other pictures, most of them taken earlier, generally have Marilyn in scenes more typical of the ones we’re used to seeing.

A different side to Marilyn

While the Hollywood star’s sex appeal is very much in evidence in Arnold’s pictures, many have said that they show a different, more relaxed side of Marilyn Monroe. ‘She liked my pictures and was canny enough to realise that they were a fresh approach for presenting her,’ Arnold has said. She continued to say that the photographs presented ‘a looser, more intimate look than the posed studio portraits she was used to in Hollywood.’

Mutually beneficial

Speaking about the pictures, 98-year-old Arnold mentioned the bond that she and Marilyn shared thanks to their long working relationship, which began with a photo shoot for Esquire in 1952. Arnold said that ‘Marilyn was very important in my career. I think I was helpful in hers too.’ The pair met when neither of the two had reached the height of their careers, and were still relatively unknown. The exhibition is entitled, simply, ‘Marilyn’, and will be on display around the country.

Tags: films, photography