The Museum of Modern Art is spring cleaning its archives for a special ode to Old Hollywood. The exhibit “Face Value: Celebrity Press Photography,” which will open June 28, 2025 and be on display through June 21, 2026, features the best studio shots of iconic stars such as Clara Bow, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Elizabeth Taylor, Harry Belafonte, and more.
This is the first major exhibition of Hollywood studio portraiture to be showcased from the Museum Department of Film’s film stills archive since 1993. “Face Value” will feature over 200 works from 1921 to 1996, with studio photography of Joan Crawford, Louis Armstrong, Carole Lombard, Louise Brooks, Mia Farrow, Dennis Hopper, Lena Horne, Buster Keaton, Anna May Wong, W. C. Fields, Hattie McDaniel, Lupe Velez, Mae West, Bela Lugosi, Carmen Miranda, Elvis Presley, Diana Ross, Spencer Tracy, and Oprah Winfrey, in addition to the aforementioned stars. Historical figures such as Jackie Robinson, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Amelia Earhart, Ruby Berkley, and Eleanor Roosevelt are also among the portraits.
“‘Face Value’ will encourage viewers to see through the facade of glamour at how celebrity is fabricated and exploited,” curator Ron Magliozzi said in a press statement. As the MoMA exhibit description states, the exhibition will “explore how these images were manipulated for public consumption through hands-on editing techniques long before digital tools became standard.”
The pieces include works by more than 58 photographers, with “untouched” candid images juxtaposed with traditional press practices of the era such as silhouetting, in-painting, masking, sectioning, and collage. The exhibit will be on view in the Titus and Morita Galleries.
“Face Value” is organized by curator Magliozzi, with Katie Trainor, the Film Collections Manager, and Cara Shatzman, the Collection Specialist for the Department of Film. Film at MoMA is made possible by CHANEL.
The influence of late stars Bow and Keaton, both of whom are included in “Face Value,” is evident in the modern culture, with Taylor Swift even citing the media frenzy around Bow in a song dedicated to the late star. Meanwhile, Keaton is getting a posthumous biopic series with Rami Malek portraying him.
Check out the first look at the exhibit below.
