Milton H. Greene (1922-1985)
Milton H. Greene (1922-1985) Milton Greene was initially renowned for his high-fashion photography in the 1950’s and 60’s when the majority of his work appeared in national publications including Life, Look, Harpers Bazaar, and Vogue. He is best known for his portraits of artists, musicians, film, television, and theatrical celebrities. Through his direction he invoked the qualities that personified the real person. He captured their true beauty, which was in the heart, and showed them in an elegant and natural way. It was his business relationship and ensuing photographs of Marilyn Monroe for which he is best remembered. Throughout his career Greene photographed Monroe in 52 sessions including the famous “Black Sitting”. Monroe entrusted him with her autobiography, called My Story. He would later collaborate with Norman Mailer on a fictional autobiography of Monroe, entitled Of Women and Their Elegance.
“White Robe” May 1955 - In this photograph Marilyn has just finished doing her makeup, and is wearing her favorite outfit, a white terrycloth robe. As she came out of the studio, Milton said, “Let’s shoot this.” And, unprompted, he began shooting her in the robe. (photographed by Milton H. Greene, copyright 2018 Joshua Greene, The Archives LLC)