Elizabeth Taylor leaves the London Clinic, 23 January 1963. Photo: The Daily Herald Picture Library at the National Media Museum.

WEST YORKSHIRE.- The complex world of film publicity is revealed in a new free exhibition that opens in Gallery One at the National Media Museum in Bradford on 20 June, during the Museum’s 25th anniversary celebrations.

Live by the Lens. Die by the Lens is the first exhibition to bring together the diverse ways in which film stars are presented by the media – ranging from the glamorous images produced by film studio photographers to the press and paparazzi pictures that expose the ‘reality’ behind the glamour. The exhibition will offer an insight into the relationship between film stars, photographers, publicists and the media, and the tensions that can be inherent in that relationship.

The exhibition also celebrates the work of the stars behind the lenses – the photographers themselves – with images of over 100 stars mainly from the British and American film industries taken from 1915 to the present day. Portrait photographers, film still photographers and magazine photographers are all represented, as are the paparazzi. Featured photographers include George Hurrell, Clarence S Bull, Cecil Beaton, Ken Danvers, Bob Willoughby, Cornel Lucas, Terry O’Neill and Rankin, among many others less well-known though their work will be familiar to most film fans. Work from Matrix Syndication, Splash News and Picture Agency, and World Entertainment News Network will also be on show.

The exhibition features stunning photographs of film greats such as Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine, Peter O’Toole, Sophia Loren and Greta Garbo through to Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johansson, Jude Law and Brad Pitt, and stills from films such as Anna Karenina (1935), Moulin Rouge (1952), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Withnail and I (1987), Gladiator (2000), The Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), Atonement (2007) and the Harry Potter films.

Curator of Cinematography, Michael Harvey said: “Stardom is a central commodity of the film industry and the prime means by which most films are promoted. The media are crucial to the creation of the star image, on the one hand making extensive use of the free pictures and stories from the studios while at the same time seeking to capture shots of stars unawares, away from the film set. The film industry and the media have both evolved enormously over the years but this aspect of their relationship has remained remarkably constant, as, indeed, has the public’s fascination with anything to do with film stars and their lives.”

The exhibition brings together pictures from the National Media Museum’s Collection with material from photographers working in the film industry today, and from partners including the Kobal Foundation, Magnum Photos and the National Portrait Gallery.

Greta Garbo arrives incognito, 14 August 1947. Photo: The Daily Herald Picture Library at the National Media Museum.