ARTS&FOOD®™: Norma Jeane Mortenson is Very Photogenic - Images of Marilyn Monroe + FOOD: Dinner Party Seafood Pasta

"Marilyn" by Andy Warhol

ART

MARILYN MONROE is

AN ICONIC IMAGE in

CONTEMPORARY ART

Marilyn Monroe has become as much a part of the art scene as the contemporary art stars who are featured at major art galleries and art auctions. As a "Madonna figure", a beautiful symbol of the perfect female body, as a model for photographers in the 1950s & 60s, or just as a contemporary image of fame and stardom, Marilyn's image has grown to become a major player in art today!

Artists are drawn to Marilyn Monroe images.

Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962) was an American actress and model. Famous for playing "dumb blonde" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s, emblematic of the era's attitudes towards sexuality. She continues to be considered a major popular culture icon.

There are hundreds of thousands of art images using Marilyn as the subject.
It's like: "Oh, here's a Marilyn technique no-one has thought of yet!?!"

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Monroe spent most of her childhood in foster homes and an orphanage and married for the first time at the age of sixteen. While working in a factory as part of the WWII war effort in 1944, she met a photographer and began a successful pin-up modeling career. The work led to film contracts. After a series of minor film roles, she signed a contract with Fox in 1951. Over the next two years, she became a popular actress with roles in several comedies, including As Young as You Feel and Monkey Business, and in the dramas Clash by Night and Don't Bother to Knock. Monroe posed for nude photos before becoming a star, but rather than damaging her career, that story increased interest in her films.

Marilyn Monroe images.

By 1953, Monroe was one of the most bankable Hollywood stars, with leading roles in three films: the film noir, Niagra, which focused on her sex appeal, and the comedies Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, which established her star image as a "dumb blonde". Although she played a significant role in the creation and management of her public image throughout her career, she was disappointed at being typecast and underpaid by the studio. She was briefly suspended in early 1954 for refusing a film project, but returned to star in one of the biggest box office successes of her career, The Seven Year Itch (1955). When the studio was still reluctant to change her contract, Monroe founded a film production company in late 1954, Marilyn Monroe Productions (MMP). She dedicated 1955 to building her company and began studying method acting at the Actors Studio. In late 1955, Fox awarded her a new contract, which gave her more control and a larger salary. After a critically acclaimed performance in Bus Stop (1956) and acting in the first independent production of MMP, The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for Some Like It Hot (1959). Her last completed film was the drama The Misfits (1961).

Monroe's troubled private life received much attention. She struggled with addiction, depression, and anxiety. She had two highly publicized marriages, to baseball player Joe DiMaggio and to playwright Arthur Miller, both ended in divorce. She died at the age of 36 from an overdose of barbiturates at her home in Los Angeles on August 5, 1962. Although the it was ruled a suicide, conspiracy theories still surround the details of her death.