Exhibition at Andrew Weiss Gallery celebrates Marilyn Monroe
LOS ANGELES, CA.-Andrew Weiss Gallery presents, in its Los Angeles premier, a collection of paintings capturing free spirited, alluring, LA women on canvas. This newly curated collection features Australian Artist David Bromley’s talent of illuminating the personalities of these women on canvas, each with their own unique qualities. This collection presents alongside, and is a companion to Marilyn Monroe: Through The Lens and With The Brush. The exhibition opened in late June to rave reviews.
This exhibition presents works by noted Australian artist David Bromley and the worlds most celebrated Marilyn photographers: Andre de Dienes, Milton H. Greene, William Carroll, Kashio Aoki, Bert Stern, George Barris, & Laszlo Willinger.
Marilyn Monroe, for her short life, captured worldwide attention not only on screen, but also beyond the camera. Her charismatic charm and beauty is what makes her a fashion and beauty icon, compelling artists of all kind to commemorate her eternal allure, charisma, and influence. That is precisely what Andrew Weiss has accomplished with this exhibition.
In 1945, Marilyn was offered 20 dollars to come fully dressed and beautified for a photo shoot. Later that year she signed with a modeling agency where she eventually became the Marilyn Monroe we all know today. Even Marilyn could not have imagined that day on the beach that she would become Hollywood’s most legendary star.
“My day at the beach was a rewarding visit with a delightful young woman who was articulate, intelligent and eager to do the very best she could.” – William Carroll
It wasn’t until 1985 that her first ever photographer William Carroll even realized that Marilyn Monroe was the same girl he had photographed 40 years prior. The rest of her life’s work is history.
At the age of 97, Bill Carroll, is the last living photographer of Norma Jeane. For the first time in 65 years, these rare and important photographs shot in 1945 are available, hand signed and numbered from a limited edition, exclusively from the Andrew Weiss Gallery.
From 1953-1957, Milton Greene took some of the most alluring and captivating images ever taken of Marilyn Monroe. They became partners, establishing Marilyn’s own production company, Marilyn Monroe Productions, which produced two films, Bus Stop and A Prince and a Showgirl.
“Marilyn was a woman who, in a short period of history, became the epitome of a beautiful desirable film star and icon…
She, like many in the public’s eye and in the midst of the storm that is celebrity and fame, lost her way and her end was to soon… yet the fame, the beauty, the intrigue lives on.” -David Bromley
Kashio Aoki, a Pan American Airline steward of precious cargo, asked Joe while they were waiting on the plane if he could take pictures of the lovely couple and Joe consented. Two weeks later, Joe and Marilyn were about to depart Japan and Aoki would meet them again on the plane. This time, with his precious photographs in hand, Aoki politely asked for their autographs. Joe refused but Marilyn was happy to sign, for the Japanese people loved Marilyn. Having the opportunity to meet Marilyn and Joe was a great honor for Aoki.
“Like a landscape/seascape there is a story etched into everyone’s face. I can read a persons face to some degree, but why just to some degree?? Well, it is naive to think you know everyone’s secrets and I personally think it is not our place to know all, but rather to see a certain amount. The rest is a private matter, the subject’s right to their own privacy, privy just to a select few.” -David Bromley
Between June 1 and July 18, 1962 just two weeks before Marilyn died, George Barris became the last photographer to shoot Marilyn Monroe.
Known as the “Last Photos,” this picture was amongst over 250, taken on the beach in Santa Monica and at a private home in the Hollywood Hills.
The photos are all shot with natural lighting and with no artifice as to reveal the “true” Marilyn, and leave us with a window of what she was possibly thinking in the last days…
Bromley emerged as a painter in the mid-1980s. In the early stages of his career, he held solo exhibitions in Sydney and Adelaide and represented works in state and regional galleries. His recognitions include finalist nods in the Archibald Prize, AGNSW, in 1999, 2001, 2004 and 2008.
He has emerged as one of the most innovative and recognizable artists in Australia.
In his practice, David Bromley has developed themes for distinct and unique styles of painting; the female portrait, the children’s series and the butterflies and bird series. In the portrait series, Bromley explores the female form. Commonly, the paintings are life size poses, whether provocative or demure, of models from fashion and film. The portraits are commanding and seductive, the females attractive and bare breasted.
However diverse in his subject matter, Bromley’s work is enduringly figurative, daringly colored and executed with a graphic intention, reminiscent of Warhol’s Pop Art from the 1960s. He credits Warhol as an early influence demonstrated in his reductive colors, graphic style and the simplified forms of his nudes.
Over the past 20 years Bromley’s work has fostered widespread acclaim and notoriety in Australia and internationally. He has exhibited on nearly every continent including Asia, Europe, Africa and America. Bromley’s design eye and his ability to create mesmerizing environments has allowed him to engage, to design, and to decorate major spaces throughout Australia and abroad: everything from residential skyscrapers to iconic venues.
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