Stern, Bert. The Photo Illustration: Bert Stern by Jim Cornfield.

Alskog, 1974, 1st printing, wraps, a few passages underlined, otherwise VG+. [Includes fascinating story of Bert Stern's stellar career and his work with famous models, including Marilyn Monroe, Catherine Deneuve, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Suzy Parker, and Dian Parkinson, with technical data about how he does it.  He was one of the last photographers of Marilyn Monroe, who died in 1962. Includes nudes of Monroe and others; adult buyers only, please.  

Bert Stern (1929–2013) was a commercial and fashion photographer who helped define the polished aesthetic of mid-20th-century American advertising and celebrity culture. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Stern was a self-taught photographer who gained national fame in 1955 with his minimalist, highly successful Smirnoff vodka campaign featuring a martini glass reflecting the Egyptian pyramids. A prominent figure during Madison Avenue's "Golden Age" of advertising, he developed a slick, high-contrast style that made him one of the top commercial image-makers for leading publications like Vogue, Glamour, and Look. Beyond his commercial assignments, Stern is best known for "The Last Sitting"—a legendary, multi-day photo session with Marilyn Monroe taken at the Bel-Air Hotel in 1962, just six weeks before her death, which yielded thousands of intimate, vulnerable portraits. Stern also directed the acclaimed jazz documentary film Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959), recording the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival with a vibrant color palette and cinematic sensibility that cemented his legacy as a master of mid-century American visual culture.

The Photo Illustration: Bert Stern (1974), featuring text by Jim Cornfield, is a seminal volume in the Masters of Contemporary Photography series published by Alskog, Inc. in collaboration with Petersen Publishing and Thomas Y. Crowell Co. Subtitled How to Turn Ideas into Images, the 95-page book acts as both an intimate artistic profile and a highly practical masterclass on one of the most commercially successful and culturally influential American advertising and celebrity photographers of the mid-20th century.

Key Elements of the Work

• The Commercial Innovator: Cornfield explores how Bert Stern revolutionized the field of "photo illustration" in the 1950s and 1960s. The text tracks how Stern shifted advertising photography away from literal, dry product-shots toward conceptual storytelling, converting abstract corporate ideas into striking, emotionally resonant visual icons.

• Deconstructing Masterpieces: A hallmark of the book is its unique educational format. It pairs iconic portfolios—such as Stern’s famous Smirnoff Vodka "Martini in the Desert" campaign, his Madison Avenue commercial work, and avant-garde fashion layouts—with meticulous technical breakdowns explaining the lighting setups, lens choices, and processing methods used to create them.

• Celebrity Portrayals: The publication showcases Stern’s unmatched ability to capture raw pop-culture personality, featuring reflections on his intimate portrait sessions with prominent cultural icons of the era. This includes deep dives into his editorial approach during high-profile shoots for magazines like Vogue.

• The Creative Mindset: Rather than focusing solely on camera gear, Cornfield places tremendous emphasis on Stern's psychological and impulse-driven creative process. The book explores the internal pressures, human frailties, and frantic problem-solving that define high-stakes commercial photography assignments.

Narrative Intent

The volume functions as a definitive blueprint for aspiring image-makers. By bridging the gap between high-concept artistic vision and hard-nosed commercial technicality, Cornfield and Stern demonstrate that commercial photography is a vital form of contemporary art, illustrating how a photographer can maintain a highly distinct, subjective personal style while working within the rigorous demands of mass media.