The exhibition presenting photographs by the American photographer Milton H. Greene lasted 40 days. It was visited by around 1,250 persons on the average every day, and the attendance record was broken last week, when the photographs were seen by 5,100 visitors. The exhibition consisted of 152 photographs presenting Marilyn Monroe and other Hollywood stars and was supplemented with decorations that helped visitors feel the climate of the cinema of the 1960s. The latter included a dressing room, film set accessories, a pink 1957 Cadillac, and even a grate referring to the famous scene from ‘The Seven Year Itch’, when the dress of the divine MM was blown up by the air flowing from such a grate. Visitors bought souvenirs accompanying the exhibition: postcards, mugs, magnets, T-shirts, cloth bags and posters. Entrance to the exhibition was free.
‘The exhibition will be shown in Polin – the Museum of Polish Jews as a part of Viva Photo Awards 2015 from the 17th of November till the 3rd of December,’ informs Andrzej Baworowski. ‘We are preparing another presentation of photographs from the collection of Milton H. Greene. The exhibition will be opened on the 1st of February 2016 for a month, and fashion will be its leitmotiv,’ says the president of the Centennial Hall.
The curator of the next exhibition will be again Marek Stanielewicz. The starting point for stories of fashion will be one of Marilyn Monroe’s photo sessions.
‘We will want to show the collection both in Poland and in Europe until it gets a permanent place of exhibition. Why not in Berlin, Gothenburg or Moscow?’, says Andrzej Baworowski. ‘The collection of Milton H. Greene is one of the tourist attractions of the Great Island in Wroclaw alongside the Africarium, the Zoo and the Centennial Hall. Soon, on the 24th of September, an artistic panorama of Lviv will be opened, too,’ he adds.
The Centennial Hall is preparing a concept of permanent space in which photographs by Greene will be shown. It will be located in the underground part of the Centennial Hall. ‘We hope that the collection will be shown there in 2018. For the time being, a warehouse stands there, but it will be an excellent place for a photography exhibition after the reconstruction.’
The Centennial Hall wants to obtain the money needed for this reconstruction from EU funds intended for infrastructure and environment. They include a pool for institutions inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. ‘We will apply for 40 million PLN,’ adds the president of the Centennial Hall. ‘We want to make photographs available to visitors on a permanent basis for free or against a small fee.’
