![[MONROE, Marilyn.] Moran, Earl.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/1999/LAX/1999_LAX_09292_0219_000(121800).jpg?w=1)
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[MONROE, Marilyn.] Moran, Earl.
[MONROE, Marilyn.] Moran, Earl. Original oil painting "Lady in the Light". Marilyn in the stylized yet familiar pose that launched a thousand calendars, by the premiere pin-up artist of the 1940's, Earl Moran. Signed "Earl Moran", (lower right), circa 1946-50, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.
Earl Moran was one of the most important pin-up artists of the period. He generally worked in pastels, doing calendars and hundreds of pin-ups from the 1930s through the 1950s. He painted relatively few oils, and this is one of his best works -- certainly his very best subject.
Moran's association with Marilyn began in February 1946 when the Blue Book Agency sent a young Norma Jean Baker to his studio on the Sunset Strip for a few pictures. She was paid $10 an hour and, as Moran recalled, "she liked to pose." Moran would shoot a number of photographs until he had the one he wanted, then holding it in one hand, would sketch a charcoal outline on an illustration board. He worked with many other stars and starlets, including Jayne Mansfield and Betty Grable, but he thought Monroe was the sexiest, "better than anyone else. Emotionally she did everything right. She expressed just what I wanted" said Moran in a later interview. When they met for the last time in 1954 on the set of There's No Business Like Show Business, she gave him a big hug, and told him she loved the way he made her look. I can think of no better endorsement for this painting, than that given by Marilyn herself.R
Monroe, Marilyn
[MONROE, Marilyn.] Moran, Earl. Original oil painting "Lady in the Light". Marilyn in the stylized yet familiar pose that launched a thousand calendars, by the premiere pin-up artist of the 1940's, Earl Moran. Signed "Earl Moran", (lower right), circa 1946-50, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.
Earl Moran was one of the most important pin-up artists of the period. He generally worked in pastels, doing calendars and hundreds of pin-ups from the 1930s through the 1950s. He painted relatively few oils, and this is one of his best works -- certainly his very best subject.
Moran's association with Marilyn began in February 1946 when the Blue Book Agency sent a young Norma Jean Baker to his studio on the Sunset Strip for a few pictures. She was paid $10 an hour and, as Moran recalled, "she liked to pose." Moran would shoot a number of photographs until he had the one he wanted, then holding it in one hand, would sketch a charcoal outline on an illustration board. He worked with many other stars and starlets, including Jayne Mansfield and Betty Grable, but he thought Monroe was the sexiest, "better than anyone else. Emotionally she did everything right. She expressed just what I wanted" said Moran in a later interview. When they met for the last time in 1954 on the set of There's No Business Like Show Business, she gave him a big hug, and told him she loved the way he made her look. I can think of no better endorsement for this painting, than that given by Marilyn herself.R
Monroe, Marilyn
Provenance
A gift from Moran to his Attorney; property of the family.
Sale room notice
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