Joseph Konzal (American 1905-1994)
A bust of Carl Sandburg previously owned by Marilyn Monroe
black-painted terra cotta bust
on a walnut base
12 1/2 in. heigh x 6 1/2 x 8 3/4 in. wide
A BUST OF CARL SANDBURG PERSONALLY OWNED BY FILM LEGEND MARILYN MONROE.
One of the most unique friendships of the mid-20th century was between the original blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, and the mild-mannered poet and author Carl Sandburg, who are believed to have first met in 1960 when Sandburg was temporarily given Monroe's dressing room on the 20th Century Fox lot to use as an office, with Sandburg writing later that "she made a point of coming to introduce herself. It was as if she wanted to see me as much as I wanted to see her. We hit it off and talked long.'' They met again the following year in New York City and again a month later at the home of Hollywood producer Henry Weinstein, where the two were photographed dancing together and engaging in quiet conversations over drinks.
What may have bonded them initially was their mutual admiration of President Abraham Lincoln. Sandburg's multi-volume biography of the sixteenth president is considered to be "the best-selling, most widely read, and most influential book[s] about Lincoln," and Monroe, a voracious reader who considered Lincoln to be the ideal father figure, had no doubt read them multiple times. At one point Monroe purchased the present terracotta bust of Sandburg for her home, with Monroe's sister describing in her autobiography how Monroe would carry it from room to room, wondering out loud where it would look best and at one point exclaiming, "I want him everywhere!" (My Sister Marilyn, p.151).
Following Monroe's death, Sandburg would write a moving tribute to his friend in Look Magazine, in which he wrote of how much he admired her for having "[come] up the hard way" and her "vitality, a readiness for humor." Her estate passed to Anna Strasberg, wife of Monroe's acting coach Lee Strasberg, who offered the bulk of it for auction at Christie's in 1999.
PROVENANCE:
Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962); Anna Strasberg (1939-2024), Venezuelan-American actress and executor of Monroe's estate; Christie's, New York, 28 October 1999, The Personal Property of Marilyn Monroe, Sale 9216 lot 373
REFERENCES:
cf. Miracle, Berniece Baker. My Sister Marilyn. (1994)
This lot is located in Chicago.
