Exhibit Review
Exhibit: Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008
Run: September 26th 2009 - January 3rd 2010
Venue: Royal Ontario Museum
Location: 100 Queens Park, Toronto, Ontario
Website: www.rom.on.ca

Reviewed By: Beverley Ann and Kindah Mardam Bey

I know where all the cool celebrities hang in Toronto. Head to the Royal Ontario Museum and you can see the likes of Meryl Streep, Sophia Lauren, Kate Winslet, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, three generations of Redgrave women, a pouting Drew Barrymore, and even Matt Damon. You may have noted that some of those stars have passed away, but their star will still shine in those magnificent portraits they took the time to do while they were alive.

Vanity Fair is easily the most identifiable signature of celebrity for actors and actresses. The cover of Rolling Stone is all about the music, but sophisticated, more portrait-like look that Vanity Fair can provide has become a signature of “making it” in the entertainment business.

Since 1913, Vanity Fair as brought glamour to the page and the Royal Ontario Museum Exhibit, running until January 3^rd 2010, is the best way to see these pieces of artwork displayed on a large scale. Highly memorable images of Bette Davis, Gary Cooper, Katherine Hepburn, Jean Harlow, and perhaps one of the most memorable photos from their oeuvre, an image of silent-era starlit and Sunset Boulevard diva Gloria Swanson directing a piercing glare through a piece of black lace is simply delectable to see up close.    

The gallery of images is a magnetic collection of celebrity, and as “The Question Of Celebrity” program of events implies a lot of the exhibit is about what defines fame in the public eye. Perhaps the picture of Conrad Black sitting comfortably at his estate with his wife was not so ironic after all. The program also had "An Evening with Meryl Streep" in October (see what you miss when you don’t check the ROM site regularly).

In the 95 years that Vanity Fair has been running its greatest celebrity behind the camera would have to be photographer Annie Leibovitz. For four decades now Leibovitz has been a landmark presence in pop culture. Even if many don’t necessarily know her name, everyone has seen her artistry at the grocery store check-out. Leibovitz makes stars beautiful, ironic and almost mythic – just what audiences are looking for. When old Hollywood walked away with its silk dresses and mink coats, it was replaced with very little to idolize off screen, so it is a testament to Leibovitz that she can evoke such memories of the silver screen era with a portrait of ten famous female actresses living today and make them look like old Hollywood. The picture I refer to was seen in the April 2001 issue of Vanity Fair and shot in three locations (New York, London & L.A.) and then amalgamated in to one seamless iconic image. Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Deneuve, Meryl Streep, Vanessa Redgrave, Chloe Sevigny, Sophia Loren, and Penelope Cruz pose like statuesque beauties in the “Legends of Hollywood” portrait. At the exhibit you can also see footage taken of the behind-the-scenes of Leibovitz composing one of her portraits with famous celebrities.

Highlights of this exhibit are pictures of a pouting pre-teen Drew Barrymore in a birthday-pink dress looking defiantly at the camera, three generations of Redgrave women including the recently deceased Natasha, huge blow up pictures of Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher representing the heart and strength of England, and a fantastic picture of Madonna, tony Curtis and Mick Jagger all sat at a party in 1997. Until next years Toronto International Film Festival, the best place to star watch in Toronto simply has to be the Royal Ontario Museum.

Written by :

Kindah

 

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