You’re So Vain

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is hosting a photography exhibit that will feed everyone’s secret or not-so-secret voyeuristic tendencies and love of celebrity. The exhibit displays portraits from Vanity Fair’s various incarnations, including the earliest photo of George Bernard Shaw taken by Malcolm Arbuthnot in 1920. The exhibit also features copies and covers of dozens of Vanity Fairs throughout the years, up to and including the September, 2009 Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson issues.

The exhibit also illustrates how the idea of portraiture changed through the years. A 1924 picture of D.H. Lawrence by Nickolas Muray shares more similarities with an old picture framed in your grandmother’s home than with the 2005 picture by Jonas Karlsson of Run DMC driving a car in the New York harbour.

Two of Vanity Fair’s most famous photographic contributors, Edward Steichen and Annie Leibovitz, are highlighted in the show. Steichen was named the greatest living portrait photographer by the 1923 incarnation of Vanity Fair, which hired him on until the magazine closed in 1936. He took iconic photos such as Isadora Duncan against the Parthenon and a stunning picture of Gloria Swanson veiled behind a piece of black lace.

Annie Leibovitz’s work is essentially the catalyst for how we all imagine Vanity Fair today. A 2005 poll by the American Society of Magazine Editors named two of her covers in the “40 best covers in the past 40 years”: her portrait of Yoko Ono and John Lennon under white covers for Rolling Stone, and her 1991 Vanity Fair image of a very pregnant Demi Moore. The ROM crowd clustered around one of her 2001 pictures of some of the world’s most famous female actors. Friends tested each other to see who could name all eight of the famous starlets (I won’t give anything away, but there are a couple Kate/Cates).

Initially, I thought the exhibit seemed small, but after over an hour had passed, I realized how much time it takes to sufficiently look at each individual photo. It also became staggeringly obvious what a huge role Vanity Fair has played in breaking news — uncommon for a monthly publication. (For example, Vanity Fair broke the identity of Watergate’s Deep Throat in July, 2005.)

The exhibit is a must-see for anyone who appreciates photography and especially for those who love celebrity. The display runs into January and includes a sold-out speakers night with Meryl Streep and Johanna Schneller on October 7^th. — Jessica Ford