Close-up portrait of the famous actress by the American photographer. 1962, printed later. Stamped on the verso and with some pencil markings, a small area of retouching in the black. NB: what appears to be scratches on the face is part of the negative and visible in other examples. 8 x 10 inches (20 x 25 cm).

Arnold Newman included the cropped version of this image - as seen here - in his book of portraits 'One Mind's Eye', but the photograph also exists in a different version where she is seen in full frame holding a glass of bubbles on the sofa with Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Carl Sandburg. For the last two years of her life, while she was struggling with mental illness and addiction, Monroe found solace in her friendship with Sandburg. In this series of Newman photographs, Monroe appears distinct from her image as a naive sex symbol and instead suggests an emotionally engaged human being. That complexity may be one of the reasons that Sandburg would choose one of these images for his memorial tribute to the actress in Look magazine’s September 11, 1962, issue, published just months after the photograph was taken.

Arnold Newman is acknowledged as one of the great masters of photography of the 20th and 21st century. He is celebrated as the pioneer of ‘environmental portraiture’, photographing leading figures in the cultural and political world of post-war America and Europe. Furthermore, Newman is also known for his masterly composed abstract, still life and documentary photography.