- Fine Art Photography Gallery Collection
- Marilyn Monroe Black - 08
Marilyn Monroe Black - 08
Marilyn Monroe Black - 08
Milton Greene
Circle Gallery silk screen print
Edition #201 to 300
1956, printed 1974
Note: Best print of entire edition of 300. The others were mediocre quality at best.
Image Size: 40" x 30"
Paper Size: 46" x 35"
Milton Greene
Circle Gallery silk screen print
Edition #201 to 300
1956, printed 1974
Note: Best print of entire edition of 300. The others were mediocre quality at best.
Image Size: 40" x 30"
Paper Size: 46" x 35"
Milton H. Greene (March 14, 1922 – August 8, 1985) was a well known American fashion and celebrity photographer as well as a film and television producer. He is best known for his controversial Marilyn Monroe photo shoots.
Greene was born into a Jewish family as Milton H. Greengold on March 14, 1922. He began taking photographs at fourteen and was awarded a scholarship to Pratt Institute in New York City. However, he decided to bypass academia and instead apprentice with photojournalist Elliot Elisofen and as an assistant to Louise Dahl-Wolfe. His decision to go directly to work rather than to study at school was a smart one since his career ended up taking off. By twenty-three he was known as color photography's "Wonder Boy" and made a name for himself in the 1940s and 1950s as a high end fashion photographer with his work appearing in Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and other well known magazines.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Greene started focusing on shooting celebrities. Some of his famous subjects included Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner, Sammy Davis, Jr., and of course Marilyn Monroe.
Greene's work with Marilyn Monroe, whom he first shot in 1953 for a layout in Look Magazine, drastically changed the course of his career. When she left Los Angeles to study acting in New York City with Lee Strasberg, she stayed in Connecticut with Greene and his family. Soon after, they ended up forming a production company in an effort for Monroe to become more independent and to wrest control from the tentacles of the major Hollywood studios. Greene would produce two films for her, Bus Stop (1956) and The Prince and the Showgirl (1957).
What really cemented Greene's reputation as a well known photographer was the collaboration with Monroe on at least fifty-three photo sessions, including the most famous one - "The Black Sitting". Time-Life Magazine anointed a 1954 image featuring Monroe in a ballet tutu as one of the most popular images of the 20th century.
In 1957, they had a falling out and their friendship ended after Monroe fired Greene.