By Bob Duggan at Big Think
“Wallis remarks on Monroe’s ‘stagy performance of threatened innocence’ that Cindy Sherman and Madonna, most notably, mimicked years later. In fact, many of Vachon’s photos seem like precursors of Sherman’s famous ‘film noir’ stills, yet Sherman, like the rest of us, couldn’t have possibly seen them until now. In Vachon’s photographs, Monroe the collaborator in her own image-making emerges…
…Yet, even when she posed with a stuffed grizzly bear (shown above), Monroe managed to achieve that ‘threatened innocence’ Wallis praises and makes even the stagiest photo seem interesting. Marilyn becomes a grown-up Goldilocks in this photo sensing Papa Bear’s hot breath on her nape. In the fairy tale world of Hollywood glamour, Monroe knew both the dangers and rewards first hand, yet still could mock the system with a single look as much as with a sprained ankle…
…In a later shot taken by someone else on that same day, Vachon and Monroe posed together, but with Vachon using the crutches. The two artists both understood the game they had to play, and both enjoyed the joke they were playing on the game itself.
Marilyn, August 1953: The Lost ‘Look’ Photos by John Vachon, Brian Wallis