Iconic celebrity portraits to be auctioned for Covid relief

CNN  — 

US photographer Mark Seliger is to auction off portraits of famous names such as Brad Pitt and Amy Schumer to raise money for the fight against coronavirus.

Seliger is known for his portraits of celebrities, politicians and musicians for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair magazines, and soon these pictures will be made available in aid of fundraising and advocacy campaign RADArt4Aid, according to a press release.

The campaign brings together Mark Seliger Studio, RAD (Red Carpet Advocacy) and Christie’s, which will auction the works from May 28 to June 12.

There will be 25 portraits up for auction, including images of Barack Obama, Jennifer Aniston, Johnny Cash, Billie Eilish and Oprah Winfrey, and proceeds will be donated to a charity of the subject’s choosing.

Brad Pitt photographed by Mark Seliger in 2014, in Humboldt, California.

Bids will be taken online, and there will be a number of videos explaining the stories behind the images that will go under the hammer.

“My career has been built on connecting with and understanding people and their stories with the desire to represent them in a way that is authentic and, in some cases, a bit fantastic,” said Seliger in the press release.

“My team and I have curated a special group of prints for this auction that illustrate some of my favorite subjects and moments from the last 30 years.”

Some of the other portraits up for auction include Kurt Cobain, Laura Dern, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dr. Dre, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jerry Garcia, Keith Richards, Nicole Kidman, Jerry Seinfeld, Snoop Dogg and Reese Witherspoon.

Seliger’s work also features heavily at an exhibition celebrating 40 years of Vanity Fair magazine.

Vanity Fair: Hollywood Calling” opened at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles in February and features more than 100 of the magazine’s most powerful images.