MARILYN MONROE

Candid Marilyn Monroe Photographs Go On Display In London

BY KATIE BERRINGTON14 FEBRUARY 2019

Rare, candid photographs of Marilyn Monroe are set to go on display in London as a new exhibition, titled A Week With Marilyn - reminiscent in name of the 2011 film in which Michelle Williams played Monroe - opens this month. The black-and-white pictures, some of which haven't been printed or exhibited before, were taken by Ed Feingersh, who spent a week photographing the iconic 20th century figure in March 1955 as she went about her daily life.

The Brooklyn-born photographer, whose Monroe works are his best known, was on an assignment for Red Book magazine - having been recommended for the job by Monroe herself. She was preparing for two public appearances in the week of 24 to 30 March: the opening night of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Morosco Theatre and a charity event that she was part of in Madison Square Gardens, at which she appeared on a pink elephant.

Feingersh's photos of Monroe in Grand Central Station, with passengers passing by without noticing, are particularly famous monochromic images captured of the icon. The negatives were found in a warehouse several decades after the photographer died in 1961. In another of the pictures in the series, Feingersh can be seen in a mirror reflection while Monroe has a corset fitting behind. There are also shots of her dining in a New York restaurant and of her getting ready in her room at the Ambassador Hotel to go to the theatre to see the Tennessee Williams play.

A Week With Marilyn opens at Wimbledon's Galerie Prints, in collaboration with the Getty Images Archive and Gallery London, with a preview on February 15 and runs until March 30 2019.