Vanity Fair photographs to go on display

From Virginia Woolf to a naked and heavily pregnant Demi Moore, the exhibition's 150 photographs represent "an essential who's who of the past hundred years".

Vanity Fair was first published from 1913-1936 and then folded, a victim of the Great Depression. It was revived in 1983 and continues today.

The exhibition includes photographs from both periods.

The early years are represented by leading figures of the Jazz Age - among them Louis Armstrong, Josephine Baker, Noel Coward, Jean Harlow and Gloria Swanson.

Stars from the modern era include Sir Mick Jagger and Madonna.

Famous covers will also be on display, including last year's 'Hollywood issue' which featured a naked Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley alongside designer Tom Ford.

The picture was the work of celebrated photographer Annie Leibovitz, a Vanity Fair regular.

Leibovitz, whose photoshoot with the Queen made headlines earlier this year, has 22 pictures in the exhibition.

There are also photographs by Helmut Newton, Nan Goldin, Herb Ritts and Mario Testino.

National Portrait Gallery curators were given access to the Vanity Fair archives.

Some of the pictures, including the 1924 image of Virginia Woolf by photographers Maurice Beck and Helen MacGregor, are previously unseen.

Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter said: "It's only fitting that the august National Portrait Gallery will present the first exhibition of Vanity Fair's iconic portraits.

"To have all of the works displayed together will serve as a remarkable photographic history."

National Portrait Gallery director Sandy Nairne said: "This exhibition offers the perfect combination of great subjects and great photographers: an essential who's who of the past hundred years.

"This is an extraordinary opportunity to look back across two major swathes of the 20th century."

The exhibition is one of the highlights of the gallery's spring 2008 season, and opens in February.

Others include Brilliant Women: 18th Century Bluestockings, opening in March, which tells the story of the women of the original Bluestocking Circle.

They include Shakespearean critic Elizabeth Montagu, scholar Elizabeth Carter, historian Catharine Macaulay, writer Hannah More and artist Angelica Kauffman.

Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008 runs from February 14 - May 26. Brilliant Women: 18th Century Bluestockings runs from March 13 - June 15.