Bert Stern

Bert Stern (1929–2013) was an American photographer and filmmaker whose inventive vision reshaped fashion and advertising imagery in the mid‑20th century—and whose intimate portraits of Marilyn Monroe stand among the most iconic in photographic history. Born in Brooklyn to a children’s portraitist, he dropped out of high school to serve as an Army photographer in Japan, then landed in Look magazine’s mailroom before Hershel Bramson, the art director, made him a commercial photographer.In 1955 Stern made his mark with a simple yet stunning Smirnoff vodka campaign—a close‑up of a martini glass set against the Egyptian pyramids—a breakthrough that, according to curator Robert Sobieszek, broke decisively with traditional advertising photography. Alongside peers like Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, he pioneered clean, uncluttered compositions for *Vogue*, *Harper’s Bazaar*, and leading fashion houses.From 1959 to 1962 he documented stars—from Audrey Hepburn to Twiggy and Elizabeth Taylor—but his most famous work came in June 1962: three days of sessions with Marilyn Monroe at the Hotel Bel‑Air, six weeks before her death. The resulting images—collected in *Marilyn Monroe: The Complete Last Sitting* (2000)—reveal Monroe’s beauty and vulnerability in candid, often nude portraits that Stern described as “one thing leading to another,” each pose born of trust and spontaneity.A versatile artist, Stern directed the jazz documentary *Jazz on a Summer’s Day* (1959), later honored by the National Film Registry, and even “romanticized” Spam for a whimsical advertising shoot. In the 1980s he relocated to Los Angeles, where he continued shooting celebrities and commercial work.Stern’s work is held by MoMA, the International Museum of Photography and Film, and the Fashion Institute of Technology, among others. He once said, “Models more than actresses—what makes a great model is her desire; it’s exciting to photograph desire,” a sentiment that underpins a career defined by emotional engagement, technical mastery, and a fearless embrace of both glamour and intimacy.