We all have a favorite celebrity; whether it is an actor or a musician, we can’t help but to have this immense adoration for someone we have never met or may briefly have only encountered for a brief moment. We go out and buy every magazine cover they are on, watch every movie they are in, buy every record they’ve made and begin to research them on the computer finding out every detail about their lives. Don’t deny it: we all have been a crazy fan before, but why do we become so fixated on a celebrity? Why do we have countless pictures of them saved on our phones or saved in an unnamed file on our computer documenting their every move, and how do they get plucked from obscurity and become overnight sensations? The answer is a combination of two things: talent, and the art of photography.
Thankfully, you and I aren’t the only mad ones out there with all these questions. If you want to find out more on the subject there is an exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles titled Portraits of Renown: Photography and the Cult of Celebrity on now through August 26. This exhibit is an inside look on how photography’s extraordinary ability can shape identities and create the celebrities we can’t get enough of. As you attend the exhibit, it will take you on a history tour of how 20th century photography and the power of fame help accelerate the desire for photographs of celebrities in magazines, newspapers, and advertisements. Each picture on display are exclusively taken from the J. Paul Getty Museum’s archive of recognizable figures throughout the past century and will also reveal the visual strategies used by photographers to picture the famous from the 1840’s to the year 2000.
Also, on the subject of celebrities and photography; there is another exhibit on now through August 26th at the Getty Museum celebrating the Revolutionary fashion and art photographer, Herb Ritts. Chronicling his work from the1960’s up until his death in 2002, Ritt’s work features top models and actors such as Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Richard Gere, another truly remarkable example of great talent and the power of photography and fame.
Almost everyone in the world, if asked, could name their favorite celebrity and why. They may even get a bit excited when talking about who that person is, because that celebrity they mentioned has made an impact on them in some way that only they understand.
