Vanity Fair photos go to London’s National Gallery

LONDON: Charlie Chaplin will rub shoulders with princess Diana, Madonna and Americans presidents past and present at an exhibition of 150 photographs published by legendary magazine Vanity Fair that opens on Thursday in London.

“Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008, will be open to the public until May 26 at the National Portrait Gallery in central London. It’s the 90th anniversary for Vanity Fair and the 25th anniversary of the rebirth of the magazine,” David Friend, editor of creative development at the magazine, said.

During the lean years of the 1930s, in the midst of the Great Depression, the magazine became too expensive to produce and with the spectre of World War II looming on the horizon, Vanity Fair’s initial creation faded away.

But publishing house Conde Nast re-launched the magazine in 1983, which retained its aura despite the 50-year absence.

Movie stars, writers, artists, singers and finally political personalities and business people have all been photographed by Vanity Fair, which has been primarily interested by the personalities that loomed large during their peaks.

Actress Demi Moore’s appearance on the magazine’s cover, naked and seven months pregnant, in August 1991 caused a stir at the time.

More recently, portraits of Norman Mailer, David Hockney, Miles Davis, former US president Ronald Reagan, current President George W Bush and Margaret Thatcher are all also available for the public to see, along with a plethora of actors and actresses. After the exhibition in London concludes, it will move on to Edinburgh, Los Angeles and Canberra.