Vanity Fair Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery

The exhibit is in its last week at the National Portrait Gallery and has been sold out most days. I was able to get a ticket at 10 in the morning this past Sunday, which is the time that the museum opens. The exhibit was packed even then. Here is a description of the exhibition. I used to subscribe to Vanity Fair and always enjoyed the photography. I didn’t realize that Vanity Fair had been a publication in the 1920s and 1930s and then it was cancelled until it was brought back in the 80s. It was interesting to see that the second incarnation in the 80s really was bringing back the spirit of the original magazine with elaborate photo shoots and portraits of prominent people in the arts.

Funny one of the pictures in the exhibition was an Annie Leibovitz photograph called President Bush and his War Cabinet. I was looking at it when two people, who I believe were speaking Dutch walked up and pointed at the picture and started discussing it. I don’t speak Dutch but from the body language and the snicker, they weren’t fans of the subject.

My only disappointment was that the entire exhibition was housed in just one large room of the Gallery. I think they were trying to balance the old photographs with the new and this kept the exhibition kind of small. They could have included many more photographs from the new Vanity Fair.

I know Vanity Fair and Annie Leibovitz have been in the news recently with the whole Miley Cyrus “controversy”. I put that word in quotes because to me it was just a beautiful picture of a young girl and someone trying to drum up publicity.