JADAR

★★★★☆

Following her death, Marilyn Monroe’s most personal belongings were locked in storage for almost 40 years before being released to huge auction houses and dispersed throughout the world. To see a sizeable collection of her belongings is a rare experience. Indeed, Marilyn: The Exhibition, a meticulously curated collection of over 250 items, is the first of its kind in the UK.

The well-structured exhibition takes visitors on a linear journey throughout the 20th century. It begins back when Marilyn Monroe was Norma Jean. We see her birth certificate, a photo signed by “Norma Jean”, and a gorgeous gown worn by Jean Harlow, Norma’s idol, who seemed to inspire Marilyn Monroe, much like Marilyn Monroe inspired Jayne Mansfield. Eerily, all three women died tragically, and tragically young, which immortalised them as icons, forever young. However, few icons have remained as relevant decades after their deaths as Marilyn.

At first, it seems odd that a dress belonging to Jean Harlow is in a Marilyn Monroe exhibition, but Jean Harlow informed Marilyn Monroe, and the curators deliberately placed it in the early Norma Jean section, for Jean Harlow served as a source of inspiration for Norma Jean, who was, herself, destined to be a star.

The exhibition, though simply titled “Marilyn”, might be better described “Marilyn vs. Norma”. We learn not only about pre-Marilyn Norma but also Norma during Marilyn: the real woman, behind closed doors. Indeed, the exhibition invites visitors to “discover the woman behind the bombshell”.

As photography Richard Avedon said, “There was no such person as Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn Monroe was an invention of hers. A genius invention that she created, like an author creates a character.”

The exhibition, with its personal stories, does not reveal anything that any Marilyn fan will not already know, but it is refreshing for an exhibition to not only focus on the glamour but also the grit. An audio guide reveals additional details, with some commentary by “experts” and even recreations by a Marilyn Monroe impersonator (the fantastic Suzie Kennedy), which is fun and exciting but some fans might find it a little gratuitous in this context.

Whilst some of the artefacts are ostensibly uninteresting and underwhelming – and appear to have just been thrown in to increase the number of personal items (e.g. mundane cutlery and many boring budget sheets) – the more personal items help bring the story to life. They reveal that the goddess was merely human.

Indeed, in an exhibition determined to strip back the Marilyn facade, it is the everyday items that are the most moving. These include a plain, cream blouse – designed by her favourite brand, Jax – which has ageing brown sweat marks on the armpits. Marilyn sweated and loved and cried and died – just like the rest of us.

It’s a little uncomfortable seeing some of her personal possessions, such as half-used cosmetics, well-preserved but worn over time. It highlights how suddenly and tragically she died. The cavernous brick of the venue heightens the voyeurism; it’s as if you have unearthed an archive in a secret underground passage.

Perhaps the star attraction is the iconic Life Magazine outfit. There are also some beautiful gowns but, unfortunately, the two most dazzling dresses – including the bedazzled, skin-coloured piece recently desecrated by Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala – are replicas. The exhibition makes this clear but using images of the gowns in the promo could be misleading.

The variety in items in this collection is remarkable. There are even some of the politically radical books which could have landed the actress, who had tied to Communists, on the Hollywood blacklist during the Red Scare. In fact, the FBI had a file on her that read, “Very positively and concisely leftist.”

Marilyn was always politically active: we are told the much-known story about Marilyn sitting front row at the Mocambo every night if they hired Ella Fitzgerald. However, it is untrue that the venue would not book her simply because she was Black – other Black artists, such as  Eartha Kitt and Herb Jeffries, had already played there – but rather because she was overweight and “unglamorous”. Still, Marilyn used her privilege to help out an up-and-coming Black artist, and this proved to be a turning point in her career.

The exhibition could dive deeper into Marilyn’s political life. A convert to Judaism, and a devoted supporter of equal rights, she said, “What I really want to say: That what the world really needs is a real feeling of kinship. Everybody: stars, laborers, Negroes, Jews, Arabs. We are all brothers.”

The exhibition does, however, hone in on the contradictions that make Marilyn so enthralling and mystifying. She was a troubled young woman who self-sexualised to “make it” in a patriarchal industry, playing men at their own game, whilst exerting and maintaining ownership over her own body. She was intelligent and political, reading about Communism and supporting the Civil Rights Movement. She founded her own production company in a misogynistic, male-dominated industry.

The exhibition artfully places contradictory objects together, such as her copy of Joshua L. Liebman’s Peace of Mind and a pair of her false eyelashes. Marilyn was acutely aware of these contradictions: there’s a photograph of her kneeling by a set of bookshelves wearing a sheer black lace negligee.

Perhaps people’s surprise at Marilyn’s intelligence reveals how insidiously sexist we are as a society. Why would Marilyn not be intelligent?

Marilyn had brains and beauty, and she did not feel the need to choose between them. She was a remarkable human being; so remarkable, in fact, that we sometimes forget that she was human. This bold exhibition, which is as much about Norma Jean as it is Marilyn Monroe, forces visitors to confront the way we treated and continue to treat Marilyn (and continue to treat stars today). It’s the first exhibition that has left me not feeling uplifted but, frankly, depressed.

250 items cannot do Marilyn justice, not even one with a clear narrative. It must also be noted that there are various narratives that surround Marilyn. A few years ago, I wrote a 6000-word essay tackling the paradox in which Marilyn is redeemed by patriarchs and reclaimed by feminists. This exhibition is an example of the latter, and whilst it is cathartic, it runs the risk of inadequately historicising her.

She was not just a sex object but, rather, a sex vessel, through with Americans realised their sexuality. She was complicit in her own objectification, but is that truly empowering if she did it to gain (and sustain) notoriety in a misogynistic industry/society? Conversely, is telling Marilyn that she was not empowered, itself, an act of objectification? By doing that, am I, a self-proclaimed feminist, doing to her what the patriarchs I criticise did to her?

Whilst we now study the late legend incessantly, it’s important to remember that she died before anybody ever took her seriously. But whilst she offered the cynical words, “They will only care when you’re gone,” let’s turn to renowned feminist Gloria Steinem for a more positive outlook: “We are taking her seriously at last.”

Marilyn: The Exhibitions runs at Arches London Bridge until February 23. 2025

Photo: Marilyn – The Exhibition