Bert Stern Brooklyn, USA, 1929-2013

Biography
© Bert Stern
© Bert Stern

Bert Stern was born in Brooklyn in 1929.

 

He was a self-taught photographer. Over the course of his career, he transformed the landscape of fashion and advertising photography; his images were so powerful that they transcended their role as mere accompaniment to text.

 

In 1951, he joined Mayfair magazine as an art director and soon began collaborating with publications such as Vogue, Esquire, Look, Life, Glamour, and Holiday. His most famous work is The Last Sitting, the collection of 2,571 photographs of Marilyn Monroe taken at the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles in June 1962, just weeks before the actress’s death.

 

He died in Manhattan in 2013 at the age of 83.

Works
  • Bert Stern, Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, N.D.
    Bert Stern
    Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, N.D.
    Archival pigment photograph
    26 x 26 cm
    10 1/4 x 10 1/4 in
  • Bert Stern, Marilyn Monroe behind a crucifix, from The Last Sitting for Vogue, 1962
    Bert Stern
    Marilyn Monroe behind a crucifix, from The Last Sitting for Vogue, 1962
    Print set within contact sheet border
    98.4 x 99.7 cm
    38 3/4 x 39 1/4 in (without frame)
  • Bert Stern, Marilyn Monroe nude on a bed, from The Last Sitting for Vogue, 1962
    Bert Stern
    Marilyn Monroe nude on a bed, from The Last Sitting for Vogue, 1962
    Archival pigment photograph
    101.6 x 123.2 cm
    40 x 48 1/2 in
  • Bert Stern, Marilyn Monroe with jewels, from The Last Sitting for Vogue, 1962
    Bert Stern
    Marilyn Monroe with jewels, from The Last Sitting for Vogue, 1962
    Archival pigment photograph
    33 x 27 cm
    13 x 10 5/8 in
Exhibitions