Andre de Dienes

An unparalleled portrait of an icon, reissued in a compact edition for Marilyn’s 100th birthday. Featuring photographs and memoirs by her first photographer, brief fiancé, and lifelong friend, André de Dienes, this intimate archive traces Norma Jeane’s rise to Marilyn Monroe, capturing her enduring magnetism up to her final days.

Before Marilyn, there was Norma Jeane

A story of love and friendship with a megastar in the making

One day in 1945, fashion photographer André de Dienes met an aspiring model named Norma Jeane Dougherty. It was a momentous moment, both for his personal life and his photographic portfolio. Over the next few years, he would be briefly engaged to Norma Jeane, take a number of adventurous road trips with her, and build up a stunning series of portraits which would help launch her modeling, and later movie, career.

This collection of de Dienes's photographs and private memoirs offers an intimate picture of Norma Jeane the woman, before she was Marilyn the icon. From their trip to see Norma Jeane’s mother in a mental hospital to Marilyn’s visit a few days before her death, de Dienes's emotion-laden archive, often annotated with handwritten notes, offers a deeply personal account of Monroe's transformation from a sensitive, ambitious girl into a deeply troubled global star.

The author

California-native Steve Crist's TASCHEN titles include André de Dienes's Marilyn, William Claxton's Steve McQueen, and The Polaroid Book.André de Dienes. Marilyn Monroe. 45th Ed.Hardcover, 15.6 x 21.7 cm, 1.09 kg, 480 pages

ISBN 978-3-7544-0709-7

Edition: English