The Last Sitting

Rating:
Summary: A mixed bag
Review: I have owned this book for many years and don't really know the difference between this book and Bert Stern's other listed book, "The Complete Last Sitting." When I bought this book, I considered this one of the best on MM, but now it seems a bit ghoulish because Stern published pictures that MM had rejected. She had even used a pin to destroy the negatives, but Stern published them anyway. In hindsight, this is disrespectful to MM. He even publishes a photo of MM dropping her scarf, looking nude and very vulnerable. He also calls this sitting MM's last sitting. However, she posed for George Barris a couple of weeks after Stern's sitting, making Stern's allegation untrue. More importantly, Stern really doesn't get to know her at all so his "insights" are superficial. However, if you love MM (as I do) and can ignore these defiencies, you will enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: The Incomplete Last (kind of) Sitting
Review: The difference between Stern's Last Sitting and Complete Last Sitting is the inclusion (in the latter volume) of recently restored proofs, the majority of the session, that Monroe herself had rejected- destroyed with pin and permanent marker, with "x"s to her face.

The Barris book (truly the last photo session)is a skinny volume, mainly composed of similar shots of Marilyn at the beach in her mexican sweater. It's also inferior to Stern's due to the dubiously "remembered" confessions that fill almost every page, information that turns out to be common knowlege.

If it's' a massive, intimate super-fan's only photography book, spend the extra $ on the Complete Last Sitting... and enjoy!