Collection: Milton Greene

Born in New York in 1922, Milton Greene began taking pictures at the age of 14. He soon apprenticed himself to the famous photojournalist and wizard of composition, Elliot Elisofen. Before long, his keen regard for fashion and the camera found him assisting Louise Dahl-Wolfe, the distinguished fashion photographer known for her unique covers and fashion pages for Harper's Bazaar.

At the age of twenty-three, Milton was referred to as “Color Photography's Wonder Boy”. The majority of Milton's work in the fifties and sixties appeared in major national publications including Life, Look, Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country and Vogue. In fact, Milton Greene, along with other eminent photographers such as Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn, and Norman Parkinson, is credited for bringing fashion photography into the realm of fine art.

Although Greene was initially renowned for his high-fashion photography, it is his remarkable portraits of our most beloved artists, musicians, film, and television and theatrical celebrities, which have become legendary. It was Milton's ability as a director that enabled him to capture the qualities that best personified the real person, making each of his pictures an eloquent, unique statement as he converted his remarkable vision into compelling photographic art. Milton believed that as an artist/photographer he wanted to capture people's beauty, which was in the heart and to show people in an elegant and natural way. His gifts were his flawless timing as well as creating rapport in which to allow Persona to be “seen.”

The range of Milton Greene's subjects include such people as Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich, Sammy Davis, Jr., as well as many others. But it was his unique friendship, business relationship and ensuing photographs of Marilyn Monroe for which he is most fondly remembered. Milton first encountered Marilyn Monroe on assignment for Look Magazine. They quickly became close friends and ultimately formed their own film production company, which produced Bus Stop and The Prince and the Showgirl. Before marrying Arthur Miller, Monroe lived with Milton and his family in their Connecticut farmhouse. It was during this period that Greene was able to capture some of the most beautiful photographs ever taken of Marilyn Monroe, recording her moods, beauty, talent and spirits. During their ten years together, Greene photographed Monroe in countless photographic sessions including the famous “Black” sitting.

His photography won him many national and international honors, medals and awards; among them the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the Art Director's Club of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Detroit. One of his last awards was from the Art Director's Club of New York for his work in Harper's Bazaar.