‘Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world’ – Marilyn Monroe
Twentieth Century Fox and Bendigo Art Gallery present ‘Marilyn Monroe’, one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of the Hollywood icon ever presented. Curated by Tansy Curtin, Senior Curator at Bendigo Art Gallery, the exhibition allows unprecedented access to 12 of the films Marilyn completed with the studio. It provides a full cinemascope of Marilyn’s celebrity with the inclusion of glamorous studio portraits, wardrobe test photographs, film clips, vintage newsreel footage, lobby cards and film posters drawn from the Studio archives and sourced from both public and private collections around the world.
Seward Johnson’s iconic eight-metre high sculpture of Marilyn Monroe, Forever Marilyn makes its international debut in Bendigo. Immortalising the famous 36-26-36 hourglass silhouette of the blonde bombshell, the statue is a representation of one of the most famous images of Monroe, standing above a subway grate as her white dress is blown by a passing train, a scene taken from Billy Wilder’s 1955 film ‘The Seven Year Itch’.
The exhibition expresses Marilynâ’s feminine polarity. A simple cotton shirtdress is on display which Curtin has described as “so very ‘unMarilyn’ like”. In contrast, the dress and matching bolero Marilyn wore when entertaining the troops in Korea, and the green Pucci blouse worn by Marilyn in her last known photograph taken in July 1962 are also on display. Film costumes designed by William Travilla are also a key feature. With Travilla, Marilyn hit heights of sheer goddess quality with timeless designs that will forever symbolise the very epitome of glamour and sex in the ultimate female form.
The exhibition takes a relatively traditional approach to Marilyn, depicting her life in a semi-chronological way beginning with some early photographs of Norma Jeane. The exhibition will feature a selection of personal effects including the actress’ childhood camera, her address book, tiles from her kitchen, her director’s chair and makeup that will come together in a cabinet of curiosities. Original film scripts featuring Marilyn’s own notations will give an insight into the actress’ theatrical methodologies and volumes from her personal library confirm her voracious appetite for books and thirst for knowledge.
Twentieth Century Fox and Bendigo Art Gallery gives the public an opportunity to hear Marilyn’s ‘voice’ through the exhibition, to understand more about her dual personalities. “These small, seemingly inconsequential objects offer us insight into the personal interests of the enigmatic film star and an inherent truth about the star who surrounded herself with myth and fiction”, says Curtin. “Marilyn’s life is so shrouded in myth and story-telling that it is often very difficult to determine fact from fiction. Marilyn herself was very good at creating stories about her life. From spending so much time immersed in her world I have had the opportunity to dig below the superficial readings.”
Innocence and power, femininity and sexualisation, embodiment and objectification, these amalgamations perfectly illustrate the duality of Norma Jeane and Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn Monroe offers its audience an intimate and sensitive portrayal of one of the twentieth centuries most iconic figures.
Bendigo Art Gallery
5 March to 10 July, 2016
Victoria
