The Essential Marilyn Monroe: Milton H. Greene, 50 Sessions

The Essential Marilyn Monroe: Milton H. Greene, 50 Sessions is the must-have book that every Marilyn fan has been waiting for. Milton H. Greene (1922 – 1985), already very well respected for his fashion photography for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar and celebrity portraits from the golden age of Hollywood, met Marilyn Monroe on a photo shoot for Look magazine in 1953. The pair developed an instant rapport, quickly becoming close friends and ultimately business partners.

In 1954 after Milton helped extricate Marilyn from her studio contract with 20th Century Fox, together they created Marilyn Monroe Productions. Marilyn became a part of the Greene family; she left LA and relocated to New York to study acting with Lee Strasberg, and whilst there, she stayed with Milton, his wife, Amy, and son, Joshua, out at their family home in Connecticut.

Milton Greene shot more than 5,000 photographs of Marilyn and he was a photographer she both admired and trusted. This trust resulted in some of the most creative and magical images that anyone ever captured of the iconic beauty. After Milton passed away in 1985, his son, Joshua Greene, a successful photographer in his own right, began a journey to meticulously restore his father’s legacy. He spent many years researching ways to restore his father’s photographs as well as cataloging and promoting Milton’s vast body of work all over the world. This resulted in The Archives, a company committed to the restoration and preservation of photography.

In conjunction with Iconic Images, The Essential Marilyn Monroe: Milton H. Greene, 50 Sessions contains 280 photographs, including 160 never-before-published and unseen images, newly scanned and restored classics, as well as images that have appeared only once in publication. Included is the famous sitting in 1954, where Marilyn is photographed in a ballet tutu. It was chosen by Time Life as one of the three most popular images of the 20th Century. Milton Greene’s Marilyn Monroe archive can finally be viewed as it was originally intended when these pictures were first produced more than 60 years ago.

Readers will move through 50 classic photographic sessions which show Monroe at the height of her astonishing beauty and meteoric fame. From on-set photography where Marilyn was hard at work (Bus Stop, 1956 and The Prince and The Showgirl, 1957, two films that were produced by MM Productions) to looser more experimental sessions: raiding the dressing up box in studio backlots, or relaxing outdoors in nature, to more intimate bedroom scenes, at home and at play. Milton wanted to steer Marilyn away from the ‘dumb blonde’ image and set out to show how versatile Marilyn could be by encouraging her to explore and project different personas during their shoots.

Joshua began working on the book five years ago, originally with approximately 600 images. It has been a real labour of love as some of the photographs took 60 hours to restore. He has collaborated with ACC Editions to create “a proper, fine-art coffee table book”.

Here, a young Joshua Greene is photographed with Marilyn on the set of Bus Stop. The actress would often babysit Joshua.

This book is a genuine work of art, and Joshua Greene has curated a breathtakingly beautiful, fitting, and lasting tribute to his father who as a young man was known as the ‘Colour Photography’s Wonder Boy’. But it was Milton’s work with Monroe that changed the course of both of their careers, and this magnificent collection showcases the work of a truly brilliant photographer, and his greatest muse.

The Essential Marilyn Monroe: Milton H. Greene, 50 Sessions published by ACC Editions on 19 October 2017 is available to purchase here.

The print edition retails for £50, but 500 deluxe, signed editions in a larger, 14 inch format (14 was Marilyn’s favourite number)  have also been produced. Priced at £1,500, the deluxe version includes a letter of authenticity from the Milton Greene estate, with a choice of print of Marilyn from the ‘Bed Sitting’ or a print from the ‘Negligee Sitting’. Both book and print will be housed in a lipstick-red clamshell case.

To purchase a deluxe edition ‘Negligee Sitting’ purchase here

To purchase a deluxe edition ‘Bed Sitting’ purchase here

For further information, please visit: www.accpublishinggroup.com