Marilyn Monroe Study Day

Marilyn Monroe Study Day

Join us for a day of talks, discussions and short films, aiming to provide a deeper understanding of Marilyn Monroe, analysing her stardom, her image and the ways in which artists have continued to respond to her legacy.

Events schedule

12:00: Welcome

A welcome from Kimberley Sheehan, season curator of Marilyn Monroe: Self Made Star, who will introduce the some of the themes and questions that we hope to examine across the course of the day.

12:05 – 12:45: Marilyn’s Stardom

Julie Lobalzo Wright explores Monroe’s singular and enduring stardom, examining how her screen persona has captivated audiences across generations, and continues to resonate today.

Julie Lobalzo Wright holds a PhD in Film Studies from King’s College London, examining crossover stardom, particularly male popular music stars in British and American cinema. Her main research interests are in film and television stardom, musicals, multimedia stardom, Hollywood/American cinema, British cinema and television, and animation.

12:45 – 13:20: Representations in Contemporary Media

Grace Ellington explores a range of representations of Monroe in in the media, and explores how artists like Madonna have interpreted her legacy.

Grace Ellington is a Makeup Artist, Writer and the Beauty Editor of feminist arts and culture publication Polyesterzine. Her work is often focused on the social context of beauty and how it can be a signifier of broader cultural themes.

13:20 – 14:00: Lunch break

14:00 – 15:00: Marilyn’s Style

Terry Newman dissects how Monroe was leading influence on both Hollywood glamour and casual chic in the 1950s, how she worked with costume designers and how her influence echoes in contemporary fashion today.

Terry Newman is a best-selling author whose work spans fashion, music, and cultural history. Alongside acclaimed titles such as Legendary Authors and the Clothes They Wore and Legendary Artists and the Clothes They Wore (Harper Design), she has written a series of music and fashion biographies, including books on Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Billie Eilish. She is also the author of Marilyn Style, created in collaboration with Marilyn Monroe’s estate.

15:00 – 15:45: National Portrait Gallery in Conversation

Rosie Broadley, Senior Curator of 20th Century Collections for the National Portrait Gallery and curator of Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait, offers an insight behind of the scenes of the remarkable exhibition and reflect on how to explore the life, career and legacy of Marilyn Monroe through portraits created by some of the greatest photographers and artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Rosie Broadley studied History of Art at the University of Bristol and before her appointment as Assistant Curator at the National Portrait Gallery in 2005, worked at the Wallace Collection and the Holburne Museum in Bath. She has a Masters degree in English Literature from King’s College, London. She is interested in British figurative art of the twentieth-century, portraiture and popular culture, and biography and its relationship to portraiture.

15:45 – 16:30: Experimental Visions

This programme of shorts features a selection of artist responses to Monroe’s image. Through acts of re-examination and reinterpretation, they uncover new meanings, reflecting on memory, mythology, celebrity, and the continuing afterlife of her image in culture. Contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.

Marilyn Magdalene. 1972. Director Isao Kota, 9min, Digital.
Marilyn Times Five. 1973. Director Bruce Conner, 13min, Digital.
“I Learned an Awful Lot in Little Rock”. 2024. Directors Laura Mulvey and Catherine Grant, 11min, Digital. Antigone’s Cut. 1988. Director Jean Matthee, 11min, 16mm dual projection.

16:30 – 17:00: Q&A with Jean Matthee

Jean Matthee joins us to discuss making her film Antigone’s Cut, the London Film-makers' Co-op and the power of Marilyn Monroe’s image.

Jean Matthee was born in South Africa and has lived in London since 1976. Although her work has been shown at Tate Britain and Tate Modern in the last decade, along with winning numerous awards internationally, she has mostly participated in an underground practice for alternative spaces since the 70’s. She has held positions in different capacities at Central St. Martins, Goldsmith’s and R.C.A. in London, and was Professor of Theory Fine Art at NTNU in Norway.

She created a concept Eating Rawness for the activist platform Dictionary of War in Novi Sad, Serbia, collaborated with the Otolith Group and contributed to A Long Time Between Suns commissioned by The Showroom and Gasworks in London. Jean Matthee inaugurated and curated Topology at Tate Modern, an 8 month trans-disciplinary, trans-generational and trans-national event completed in 2012.