'MARILYN AT NANTERNIS'Film Still Life
Acrylic on canvas 31" X 39"
Tom Leworthy 1992
The 'Famous at Nanternis'. Marilyn Monroe stands on the bridge at Nanternis, a few miles from the town of New Quay on the West coast of Wales, U.K. Even though there are some visual clues to the present moment, it is a bright sunny afternoon in the winter of 1957. Married to Arthur Miller the year before, her wedding ring is placed neatly on the bridge, forming a triangular relationship with the small figure behind her. Although she makes some concessions to glamour, this is not the usual provocative pose. Here we have a film still from a moment in life, a few props, and a naked presence. Behind her stands a young girl - either her unborn daughter or the young Norma Jean.
At the end, what has a person to show for all their passion, involvement, and committment, in life ? What would one surround oneself with to show the influence of, and one's influence on, the world ? Property, possessions, children ? The film images left of Marilyn are as concrete as the memories of this place in Nanternis. That same place now made all the more powerful by her absense.
And the inscription on her wedding ring :
" A to M, June 1956. Now is forever."
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