1924

Taken in 1924, this is one of Edward Steichen’s most celebrated portraits. Gloria Swanson, now most associated with her appearance in the 1950s film noir Sunset Boulevard, was in the 1920s one of the most popular and well-paid stars of the silent era.

• Material: Photograph on paper
• © Condé Nast Publications Inc. / Courtesy George Eastman House

1934

Jean Harlow was an American film star and sex symbol of the 1930s. This photograph was taken at the height of her career. Sadly the actress died three years later, at the age of 26.

• Material: Photograph on paper
• © Condé Nast Publications Inc. / Courtesy Condé Nast Archive

1929

Hungarian-born Muray embarked on his photographic career in 1920. This portrait depicts in profile newlywed film stars Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Crawford; it subtly references a similar photograph taken by Muray eight years earlier, of Fairbanks’ father with his new wife, Mary Pickford.

• Material: Photograph on paper
• © Condé Nast Publications Inc. / Courtesy Condé Nast Archive

1935

Owens was the star of the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, winning four gold medals, a triumph by an African-American athlete that served as a rebuke to the racist policies of his Nazi hosts.

• © Condé Nast Publications Inc. / Courtesy Condé Nast Archive

1936

Lusha Nelson’s study of Peter Lorre appeared in the February 1936 issue of Vanity Fair, the last before the magazine suspended publication. The photograph was taken during the shooting of Josef von Sternberg’s film adaptation of Dostoevsky’s classic novel Crime and Punishment.

• Material: Photograph on paper
• © Condé Nast Publications Inc. / Courtesy Condé Nast Archive

1927

This photograph of Albertina Rasch’s dancing troupe was taken by British-born Florence Vandamm, one of the most successful New York photographers of the  time. Vandamm frequently captured on camera the lively spirit of the Jazz Age.

• © Condé Nast Publications Inc. / Courtesy Condé Nast Archive

2000

Here is a supreme example of how Vanity Fair photographers continue to fuse fine art with celebrity portraiture with stunning results: Hollywood actress Julianne Moore is the subject of Michael Thompson’s tribute to nineteenth-century French painter, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.

• Material: Photograph on paper
• © Condé Nast Publications Inc. / Courtesy Michael Thompson

2001

This group portrait from 2001 is one of many multi-panelled gatefolds, by Annie Leibovitz, that have graced the annual Vanity Fair Hollywood issue since 1995. Depicted here are actresses Nicole Kidman, Catherine Deneuve, Meryl Streep, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Vanessa Redgrave, Chloë Sevigny, Sophia Loren and Penelope Cruz.

• Material: Photograph on paper
• © Annie Leibovitz / Contact Press Images / Courtesy of the Artist

1995

British author Martin Amis is here captured smoking one of his trademark rollup cigarettes. This photograph was taken in 1995, the year Amis’s novel The Information was published.

• Material: Photograph on paper
• © Nigel Parry / CPI

1984

This photograph featured in Vanity Fair in 1984, the year after its relaunch. It is an intimate depiction of Oscar-winning actress Jessica Lange with her new partner, playwright and actor Sam Shepard.

• Material: Photograph on paper
• © Bruce Weber