Tag Archives: marilyn monroe

Marilyn, Mao, and more at Milton Keynes

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ONCE AGAIN, THE MK Gallery at Milton Keynes has put on a superb exhibition. Until 29 June 2025, there is a show of artworks by the artist and film maker Andy Warhol (1928-1987), who was born in the USA. Best known for his multiple portraits of figures such as Marilyn Monroe and Mao Tse Tung and Pop Art images, there is much more than this on display at the MK.

The first room of the show contains work that Warhol created in the 1950s and early 1960s. Like artists such as Picasso and Hockney, whose creative lives began with works that were not as experimental and novel as their later works, Warhol’s earlier, less revolutionary, images show that he was a competent draughtsman capable of producing highly acceptable ‘straightforward’ compositions. It was interesting to see his earlier works because they are rarely displayed in public galleries. And it is always nice to see how an artist who is best known for his or her more extraordinary creations began his or her creative output.

The exhibition includes many of Warhol’s Pop Art images including those of Marilyn and Mao, but also there are several of his portraits of other figures. These include the artist Basquiat, the politician Barry Goldwater, Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys, Muhammad Ali, and Liz Taylor. What I found interesting was that amongst the portraits on display, there were a few of the British artistic couple Gilbert and George. As the exhibition booklet related:

“The British artistic duo Gilbert and George , like Warhol, explored the interplay between personal and public identity, often blurring the lines between performance and art.”

Warhol’s portraits of this couple reflect their own graphic artistic style.

Other images on display relate to the Cold War and to the electric chair. The images on display in the show include drawings, prints, posters, and photographs (often adjusted to create interesting artistic effects). There are also exhibits relating to Warhol’s prolific output of films. He made about 600 of them. It would have been interesting to have been able to see extracts from some of them.

In brief, this is an exhibition that is worth travelling to. Apart from being beautifully displayed alongside helpful information panels, it is worthy of a visit to be able to enjoy seeing this artist’s rarely seen early works.

What? No kitchen…

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During my early years in dental practice, I came across two instances of people living in houses without  kitchens.

 

antique burn burning close up

 

The first instance concerned one of my fellow dentists. He bought a house from a lady, who only used a microwave oven. Her home had no kitchen. My colleague had to convert one of the rooms in his new home into a kitchen. 

The second example was also connected with dental practice. It was the home of one of my dental nurses, whom we shall call ‘S’. She was a delightful young lady, who worshipped the late Marilyn Monroe. Sadly, her eyesight was not quite adequate enough for working in a dental surgery. She and the senior dental surgeon in the practice decided that she should seek another type of employment, which she did.  On her last day of working with me in my surgery, I gave S a small bottle of Chanel No 5 perfume as a ‘thank you present’. S was thrilled. I could not have chosen a better present. S told me that Chanel No 5 was all that her heoine Marilyn Monroe wore in bed. Well, I had no idea about the filmstar’s habits, but I was pleased that inadvertantly I had chosen the right gift for my visually-challenged dental assistant.

If you are now thinking that I have strayed from my subject, you are wrong. While S was working in our practice, she revealed that her mother hated cooking, so much so that there was neither kitchen nor dining room in the house where S lived with her family. S told me that the family ate every meal, including breakfast, at restaurants and cafés near their home.

Maybe I am too conventional, but I was surprised to learn that people who are able to afford accomodation with a kichen or kitchenette choose not to have one. In complete contrast, my wife told me that some of her ancestors lived in homes (in India) with two widely separated kitchens: one for meat and one for vegetarian food.

 

 

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