The ROM Launches A Season of Celebrity

Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008 Opens on September 26, 2009

The Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) will begin its season of celebrity with the launch of Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008, presented by the Bay, on September 26, 2009. The exhibition, which garnered record-breaking attendance in its recent European and Australian engagements, showcases over 140 portraits, including classic images from Vanity Fair’s early period and photographs featured in the magazine since its 1983 relaunch. A collaboration between Vanity Fair and the National Portrait Gallery, London, the exhibition is curated by Terence Pepper, Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, and David Friend, Vanity Fair’s Editor of Creative Development. It will be displayed in the Roloff Beny Gallery on Level 4 of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. The ROM will be the only Canadian venue to display Vanity Fair Portraits, and this will be its first showing in eastern North America.

“We are delighted to bring Vanity Fair Portraits to the ROM. Across its history, the magazine has been a barometer of the cultural mood of the time. This exhibition succeeds in channelling a mixture of the bygone days of Hollywood glamour, as well as newsmakers in art, business, politics and sport - all captured by some of the best portrait photographers in history. We are grateful to the National Portrait Gallery in London and Vanity Fair magazine for the opportunity to show this beautiful exhibition in Canada. It will be the centrepiece in an upcoming series of programming on the nature of celebrity,” said William Thorsell, ROM Director and CEO.

“I’m especially proud that the Vanity Fair Portraits exhibition will be making a stop in Canada, and at the Royal Ontario Museum, no less. It’s a wonderful institution – a place I remember fondly from my childhood,” said Graydon Carter, Editor, Vanity Fair.

“For the better part of this past century Vanity Fair has granted an intimate glimpse into the glamorous and mysterious world of high profile personas and celebrities. The magazine’s striking portrait photography has epitomized the beauty of each individual selected and has stood for the iconography of each era,” said Bonnie Brooks, the Bay CEO. “The Bay is proud and excited to be a part of this collaboration with the ROM, Vanity Fair and the Institute for Contemporary Culture.”

About Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008:

This is the first major exhibition to bring together Vanity Fair’s historic archive of rare vintage prints with its contemporary photographs. It was mounted to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the modern-era magazine and the 95th anniversary in 2008 of the original magazine’s founding, and brings together a collection of captivating images of cultural icons from Louis Armstrong, Albert Einstein, Jean Harlow and Katharine Hepburn to Madonna, Matt Damon, Demi Moore, President and Mrs. Reagan, Lord Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel.

Vanity Fair Portraits features the work of legendary photographers such as Edward Steichen (1879-1973), the magazine’s chief photographer for 13 years (from 1923 to 1936). Steichen became America’s leading photographer of style, taste and celebrity. The section of the exhibition representing the period 1983 to the present day displays the stunning work of the world’s foremost portrait photographers, among them Helmut Newton, Nan Goldin, Herb Ritts, Mario Testino, Bruce Weber and especially Annie Leibovitz, Vanity Fair’s principal photographer since 1983. Leibovitz, the most famous image-maker of her generation, first came to prominence while she was working as a photographer for Rolling Stone magazine, eventually becoming chief photographer. Her Vanity Fair covers have left us with unforgettable images of prominent figures in American pop culture.

In addition to the portraits, the exhibition will include vintage and modern editions of Vanity Fair magazine, as well as three short films that comprise behind-the-scenes footage from photo shoots directed by Edward Steichen and Annie Leibovitz.

Programs:

Through the fall, the ICC will be host to a variety of programs exploring modern-day fame, titled The Question of Celebrity. On Wednesday, October 7, Academy Award® winning actress Meryl Streep will participate in a conversation with Globe and Mail journalist Johanna Schneller regarding the nature of celebrity. General admission tickets to An Evening with Meryl Streep are $50 and can be purchased on line at www.rom.on.ca/streep. The proceeds from the event will benefit the ICC and the charities Kageno and SafeHands for Mothers.

A panel discussion called Facing the Lens, Seeing the Light: Observations on Portrait Photography examining photographic portraiture will take place on Monday, November 9. The talk will be moderated by Francisco Alvarez, Managing Director of the ICC at the ROM and Sophie Hackett, Assistant Curator of Photography at the AGO, and will include photographer Nigel Dickson, gallerist Jane Corkin and Lilly Koltun of the Portrait Gallery of Canada.

The ICC’s fourth annual Eva Holtby Lecture on Contemporary Culture will take place on Tuesday, October 27, featuring the renowned writer Lewis Lapham exploring the theme of celebrity in modern society. Further information will be available at www.rom.on.ca/icc.

The Vanity Fair Portraits exhibition will remain open from 6:55 pm to 7:00 am on October 3 as part of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. Admission to the exhibition will be free during those hours.

Other information:

The ICC at the ROM has unveiled newly constructed walls in the Roloff Beny Gallery on the fourth floor of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Consistent with the architecture of the Lee-Chin Crystal, the dynamic new partition walls provide ample vertical hanging space for the display of two dimensional art and objects in the ICC's upcoming slate of exhibitions. With funding from the ICC's operating budget and a generous donation from Alfredo Romano, an ICC Board member, the walls were custom-designed by Siamak Hariri of the Toronto based firm of Hariri Pontarini Architects, who is also an ICC Board member. Components of the new walls can be removed and will be reconfigured according to the needs of future exhibitions.

On Wednesday, September 23, the ICC hosts its second annual Culture Shock fundraiser, titled Celebrity Watch. Joining forces with Filminute, the international one-minute film festival, the ICC will present an unforgettable evening in C5 Restaurant Lounge for 120 guests. Tickets are $500; to reserve, or for more information, contact kirstenk@rom.on.ca.

A 249-page exhibition catalogue entitled Vanity Fair Portraits will be available in the ROM Museum Store for $59.99 plus applicable taxes. The more extensive, hard cover companion book Vanity Fair: The Portraits: A Century of Iconic Images, will also be available for $72 plus applicable taxes. Visitors will also find a beautiful selection of related merchandise.

C5 Restaurant Lounge will offer the Vanity Fair Afternoon Tea at $30.00 per person. The Vanity Fair Afternoon Tea and Shopping Experience will offer a discount of $3.00 for Afternoon Tea with the purchase of $30.00 or more in the ROM Museum Store (excluding alcohol and taxes). A ROM Store coupon of $5.00 will be offered with purchases of $50.00 or more. Coupons can be downloaded at www.rom.on.ca.

The ICC presents the exhibition Canadian Content: Portraits by Nigel Dickson on Saturday, September 19, displayed in the Hilary and Galen Weston Wing, Level 2. Nigel Dickson is an international award-winning photographer whose work has been published over the past thirty years in numerous magazines, from Saturday Night to Esquire, Fortune, Newsweek and Rolling Stone. This remarkable selection of arresting, insightful and witty photographs of famous Canadians underscores the photographer’s unique connection with his subjects and his mastery of diverse photographic styles. His sitters have included Canadian luminaries such as Margaret Atwood, Jean Chretien, Doug Gilmour and Oscar Peterson. Nigel Dickson: Canadians complements the concurrent exhibition, Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008, as a photographic examination of celebrated personalities in our Canadian culture.