Marilyn in Florence

Joshua Greene manages thousands of star images, including Marilyn Monroe, from his studio, The Archives.

In another world, far, far away, a bit of Florence played a major role in the art, elegance and glamour of the annual Cannes Film Festival.

Part of the festival schedule was an exhibit of 25 never-before-seen photographs of Marilyn Monroe, courtesy of event host and partner Chopard, a world-famous jewelry and watch designer and manufacturer, which brokered an amazing arrangement with The Archives, LLC, a Florence business owned and operated by Joshua Greene.

Joshua is the keeper of more than 4,000 photographs of Marilyn Monroe, which were taken by his father, fashion photographer Milton H. Greene. Milton and his wife Amy were close friends of Marilyn when Joshua was a boy.

The legendary actress was literally the poster girl and figurehead for the 12-day festival in May, which marked the 50th anniversary of her death. The photographer’s image of the pale Marilyn clad only in a black coat with a completely black background was the official film festival poster.

Joshua did not make the trip to France for the international movie festival, which pains him a bit now.

“I’ve never been to Cannes,” he said, “and I pretty much lost my best chance.”

That has not affected his focus on producing the archived Marilyn photos, which he now titles the Diamond Edition.

One of the photos provided by The Archives was sold at a Cannes auction to raise money for the amFAR organization and HIV/AIDS research. The remainder of the photographs, in an exhibit called “Marilyn Forever,” was on display throughout the festival.



For the complete article see the 07-03-2012 issue.



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