WASHINGTON — Marilyn Monroe is one of the most photographed people in the world. Nearly 50 years after her death, the public is still obsessed with questions about her apparent suicide, alleged sex tape and ubiquitous wardrobe.
The author of a new photography book says his latest endeavor, Marilyn Monroe: Metamorphosis,” is more about celebrating the icon’s public image than trying to dig into her mysterious past. The photo collection looks at her evolution in front of the camera, and features 320 pages of archival pictures from some of the period’s top shutterbugs — including Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Douglas Kirkland and Sam Shaw.
“Editing her extraordinary body of photographic work down to one … book was an enormous task,” David Wills writes in the Huffington Post. “Marilyn posed for almost every major photographer in the world. Not only that, she pretty much said ‘no’ to nobody.”
The collection was largely amassed by Wills, a curator and preservationist, who managed to unearth “museum-quality work” over several years, according to the book description.
Wills describes the enigma that was Monroe, an otherwise ordinarily pretty woman whose charisma was more alluring than her natural beauty.
“Her porcelain face looking back at us from countless posters, calendars, coffee mugs and mouse pads, we take comfort in such nostalgia,” he writes.
“Marilyn Monroe: Metamorphosis” is now available through Amazon.com and in stores.
