Bert Stern

BERT STERN (New York, 1929 - 2013).
"Jayne Mansfield," 2008.
Photograph. Copy A.P. 5/15.
Signed.
With photographer's copyright stamp, numbering and date on verso.
Certificate of authenticity enclosed.

In this photograph of Jayne Mansfield, Bert Stern recovers the visual magnetism of one of the great figures of the American cinematographic imaginary. The photograph retains the appearance of a contact sheet, with lateral marks and graphic annotations that refer to the original photographic process. This resource accentuates the documentary dimension of the work and allows us to perceive the image not only as a portrait, but also as a fragment of a session, as a selected instant within the visual universe of Hollywood glamour.

Bert Stern was one of the great American fashion and celebrity photographers of the second half of the 20th century. He collaborated with magazines such as Vogue, Look, Life, Glamour and Holiday, and portrayed figures such as Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Madonna and Drew Barrymore. He also worked in advertising and film, standing out as co-director of the documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day.

His most famous series is The Last Sitting, taken with Marilyn Monroe in 1962 at the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles, just six weeks before the actress's death, and partially published in Vogue. After living in Spain during the 1970s, he returned to New York, where he continued to work in editorial and advertising photography. She passed away in Manhattan in 2013.