A Madonna Transparency And A Mystery
I recently added this mounted 35mm color transparency slide to my collection. There are no markings on the mount, but it was identified as Madonna. That sent me researching the image, and I found it attributed to Steven Meisel from the photography for Madonna’s 1992 book SEX.
Checking my copy of SEX, I found this exact photograph reproduced as a 10 × 14-inch full-page image. That answered one question, but raised another. What exactly is this transparency?
Published in 1992, SEX was photographed by Steven Meisel and released at the same time as Madonna’s Erotica album. The spiral-bound aluminum book was sold in a silver Mylar package and included the exclusive CD single Erotic. Despite a retail price of nearly $50 at the time, it sold more than 150,000 copies on its first day and approximately 1.5 million copies worldwide, making it the fastest and best-selling coffee table book ever published. Its explicit photographs generated worldwide controversy and remain one of the defining moments in modern photographic publishing.
Many of the exterior photographs for the project were made in Miami, and this image, with its stucco wall, palm trees, and bright Florida light, appears to be from one of those sessions.
The transparency itself remains the mystery. With no markings on the mount, there is no way to know whether it is an original production transparency, a duplicate prepared for publication, or something created later. Finding the exact photograph in the book answered one question, but the transparency itself continues to raise many more. I’ll continue researching its history and provenance, and if I learn more, I’ll be sure to share it.
You can see more of my photography, projects, motion, and my Blog on my website at https://www.secondfocus.com
Julie Strain as Marilyn Monroe
One of the latest additions to my From My Collections (Cultural & Erotic) gallery is a pair of trading cards from the 1999 Julie Strain’s Marilyn 2000 series.
I picked them up a few months ago, but they found their way back to the front of my mind after all the Marilyn Monroe activity here in Palm Springs surrounding what would have been her 100th birthday.
Between the exhibits, celebrations, and the world-record gathering of people dressed as Marilyn that I photographed downtown, Marilyn seemed to be everywhere.
Produced by Comic Images in 1999, the series featured Julie Strain portraying Marilyn Monroe in photographs by Benjamin Hoffman.
If you were around glamour photography, magazines, or collectible cards during the 1990s, chances are you knew who Julie Strain was. A Penthouse Pet of the Year, actress, and model, she became one of the most recognizable glamour figures of the decade and appeared in everything from magazines and calendars to comic-book related projects and trading card sets like this one.
The card shown here is number 70 from the set.
The front contains a cropped version of the image along with the card number and caption. Turn it over and the entire photograph appears on the reverse along with the photographer credit, copyright information, and publisher details.
Trading cards are usually associated with sports, movies, television shows, or comic books. By the late 1990s, however, publishers were producing collectible card sets devoted to everything from fantasy art to glamour photography. Apparently someone decided Marilyn Monroe belonged in that world as well.
You’ll find both this card and card #20 from the Julie Strain’s Marilyn 2000 series, along with other photographs, slides, postcards, magazines, and collectible artifacts, here in From My Collections (Cultural & Erotic)
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