LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Five photographs of a nude Marilyn Monroe taken against a blood red background — one of the century's most famous images — failed to sell at auction Thursday night.
Bidding on the five pictures as a unit went up to $475,000 and up to a total $850,000 when placed for sale individually at Butterfields auction house. None of the bids, however, met undisclosed reserves placed on the pictures by Tom Kelley Jr., the son of photographer Tom Kelley who took them in 1949 when the actress Monroe was 22.
Monroe's career spanned 16 years, during which she made 29 films. She died in 1962.
An agent for Kelley said he thought the pictures — one of which was a Playboy centerfold — did not sell because people did not understand they carried intellectual property rights — meaning the buyer could do what he or she wanted with the image.