PALM DESERT, CA.- Heather James Fine Art - Palm Desert is presenting a special exhibition of photographs by photojournalist, filmmaker, and writer Lawrence Schiller. On display are the artist's famous photographs of Marilyn Monroe in addition to several of his photographs of major figures of the time.
Throughout the turbulent and tumultuous decade of the 1960s, it often seemed that whenever a headline-making news event occurred, Lawrence Schiller was there. When Lawrence Schiller got the assignment from the French magazine Paris Match to photograph Marilyn Monroe on the 20th Century Fox set of "Something’s Got to Give", he thought nothing of it. Monroe by then was firmly established as a figment in the imagination of most young men. She’d appeared in twenty-nine films by the time Schiller photographed her in black and white and color in May 1962. The world was unprepared for the moment when Marilyn jumped in the swimming pool in a flesh-colored bikini and came up out of the water au natural. She was all smiles and in her element: the sex goddess posing for eternity. Just months after the late spring shoot, Monroe was dead and Schiller’s photos of the star were used on the cover and throughout the story that Life Magazine published as a last look at the troubled star. Additionally, photos on exhibit showcase Schiller’s timely photographs of great moments from the 1960s, from movie stars to politicians, providing an all encompassing snapshot of this defining decade in history.
Earlier this year Schiller, renowned as a documentary filmmaker, film and television producer, writer and collaborator with authors such as Norman Mailer, authored a new book entitled “Marilyn and Me: A Memoir in Words and Photographs,” a series of his recollections of his fateful meeting with the tragic star. “Marilyn and Me,” a limited edition (1,962 copies), was recently published by Taschen and is now on sale. Schiller has been on the interview circuit for this new book, including the cover of Vanity Fair and appearances on all of the major news programs.
