Garry Winogrand
Marilyn Monroe

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Artist Garry Winogrand (American, 1928–1984)American, 1928–1984

CultureAmerican

Titles

Marilyn Monroe

DateSeptember 11, 1954

Place depictedNew York City, New York, United States

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 15 3/4 × 10 5/8 in. (40 × 27 cm)
Sheet: 16 15/16 × 14 in. (43 × 35.5 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Robert Levine by exchange, The Manfred Heiting Collection

Object number2002.2699

Current Location

The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building

Gallery 208

On view

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Department

Photography

Special Collections

Manfred Heiting Collection of Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionGarry Winogrand was just one of more than twenty photographers invited to the film set of The Seven Year Itch for a photo shoot which took place on November 11, 1954, and became one of the most successful publicity stunts ever staged. To promote their new film, Marilyn Monroe and director Billy Wilder were posing when Marilyn was directed to stand over a subway grate when a train passed beneath, causing an updraft to blow up the skirt of her white dress. The appeal of the staged accident was immediately recognized, and the scene was reenacted numerous times, allowing the film crew and invited press photographers alike to get the perfect shot. Every publication that could find an excuse to run the story did so, and the variations of this image, such as the one shown here, became indelibly part of Monroe’s persona and allure.
Provenance[Manfred Heiting, Malibu, California]; purchased by MFAH, 2002.
Exhibition HistoryAcquisitions of the Last Five Years: Selections of Modern and Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Upper Brown Pavilion, July 15, 2005 - October 15, 2005.

“Made for Magazines: Iconic 20th-Century Photographs,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 9–May 4, 2014.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Inscribed in pencil, verso, lower left: #1

Signed in pencil, verso, upper left: Garry Winogrand

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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