The latest exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery takes a look at 95 years worth of photographic portraits that have been published in the American culture/fashion magazine Vanity Fair. Many of the photos have gone on to become recognisable icons, whilst the photographers include a huge range of famous names.

The exhibition contains 150 or so prints, arranged chronologically along the walls of a fairly small room. If you follow the timeline, which nearly everyone does, creating a kind of people carousel, you’ll notice a few things. Firstly, the prints get bigger and bigger as you move round. The earliest photos are tiny, requiring you to elbow someone out of the way to get a closeup view, whilst some of the later ones are displayed as enormous prints, making it easy to walk backward into someone as you step back to take in the full picture (a huge photo of Margaret Thatcher is particularly startling).

Secondly, the subjects photographed by and large get more recognisable, and less noteworthy, as you move round. Early subjects include philosophers and scientists, as well as entertainers like Charlie Chaplin, whereas towards the end you find yourself wondering exactly which American sitcom it is that you recognise that actress from.

Some of the most interesting exhibits are the prints that have been scribbled on by the magazine editors with notes about where to crop the image and so on. There are also several photographs paired up with the magazine covers that they appeared on, giving you a bit more in the way of context. In fact, you can end up wishing they’d have done this with a few more of the photographs.

The mix of subjects covered is quite striking, and reflects the varying types of article in the magazine. Some of the portraits have a clear news purpose, such as the chilling composition of the United States War Cabinet at the time of the Afghanistan invasion. Others fulfil more of a traditional glossy magazine remit, such as the Photoshopped-together montages of up-and-coming American actresses.

The exhibition really though is really one for photography fans and enthusiasts. The labels accompanying each of the photos give the barest of details, containing mostly just some fairly dull biographical information about the photographer or subject (flipping seemingly randomly between the two). There’s little attempt to explain the significance of the portrait, or even where and how it was taken - which would have been especially interesting for some of the more creatively set up shots.

If you do visit this exhibition, and are happy just to take in the portraits, absorbing the photography, then be sure to visit at a time when it’s fairly quite, if you want to be in with the chance of having an at all relaxing experience. Otherwise, consider just buying the exhibition catalogue, or even just browsing the Vanity Fair website.

Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913 - 2008 is on at the National Portrait Gallery in London until 26 May 2008. Admission charges apply.