ROM and Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Strike a Pose with Vanity Fair Portraits

Classic photographs and portraits from iconic magazine on display all night October 3rd

The Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) will showcase the exhibition Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913- 2008, presented by the Bay, as part of the fourth annual Scotiabank Nuit Blanche festivities on Saturday, October 3, 2009. During this free city-wide, overnight event featuring contemporary art from around the world, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche visitors to the ROM can view classic portraits and photography from across Vanity Fair’s 95-year history. Vanity Fair Portraits is displayed in the Roloff Beny Gallery on level 4 of the ROM’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. While Vanity Fair Portraits is on view that night from 7 pm to 7 am, please note that the rest of the Museum will be closed.

“We are delighted to bring Vanity Fair Portraits to the ROM. Throughout its history, Vanity Fair has been a barometer of the cultural mood of the times. 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,” said William Thorsell, ROM Director and CEO.

Following record-breaking engagements across Europe, Vanity Fair Portraits makes its sole Canadian stop at the ROM from September 26, 2009 to January 3, 2010. The exhibition spans nearly 100 years of popular culture and features some of the most iconic images ever to appear in Vanity Fair. Images of notable figures from the worlds of literature, politics, science, music and film are captured in 150 portraits. Subjects range from Claude Monet, Amelia Earhart and Jesse Owens to David Hockney, Arthur Miller and Madonna, as well as legendary Hollywood personalities from Charlie Chaplin and Greta Garbo, to Demi Moore and Tom Cruise. The exhibition also includes vintage and modern editions of Vanity Fair magazines.

The ROM Museum Store will be open until 1 am Sunday October 4 during Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. Visitors can purchase the beautiful 249-page catalogue entitled Vanity Fair Portraits which brings together essays by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, Christopher Hitchens, Terence Pepper and David Friend examining the evolution of portrait photography and the magazine’s renaissance. The catalogue is available for $59.99 plus applicable taxes. The stunning hard-cover companion book Vanity Fair: The Portraits of a Century of Iconic Images, is also available at the ROM Museum Store for $72 plus applicable taxes.