Tom Kelley Art

Tom Kelley was born December 12, 1914, in Philadelphia. Tom’s interesting career first started as an apprentice in a New York photo studio that catered to the city’s upper 400, i.e. photographing the Vanderbilts, the Astors, the Harrimans, the Morgan’s, etc. The owner of the studio was also chief photography instructor at the prestigious New York School of Photography. Coming to California in 1935, Kelley was retained to photograph the stars created by David O. Selznick and Samuel Goldwyn. Following a long and profitable career helping to publicize motion picture personalities, he drifted into the commercial and advertising photography and opened a studio in Hollywood. One such photo, created in 1949, showed a young actress alluringly posed, totally nude, on a red velvet background. Photographer Tom Kelley, Sr. couldn't know the photo would become history and help define sexuality for generations. The actress' name was Marilyn Monroe. Kelley Studios is operated by Tom Kelley Jr. and has amassed a huge collection of celebrity portraits, unique photo situations and photographic fine art – 6 decades of photographic works. The Smithsonian has several of Kelley’s photographs in the permanent collection, and museums and galleries worldwide collect Kelley’s images.