A model wears a creation by Inmaculada Martinez on the backstage, during the International Flamenco Fashion Show SIMOF in the Andalusian capital of Seville, Spain February 8, 2019. (Photo by Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters)

Models present creations by Shana Morland during the African Fashion International (AFI) Cape Town Fashion Week, in Cape Town, South Africa, 13 April 2019. (Photo by Nic Bothma/EPA/EFE)

Beatriz Hatz of the United States competes in the women's T62 long jump final during the 2020 Paralympics at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Saturday, August 28, 2021. (Photo by Kiichiro Sato/AP Photo)

A worker piles salvaged e-bikes and scooters on the back of his three wheeler before taking them to be recycled on August 31, 2021 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

English media personality and model Katie Price during a photoshoot in Ibiza for upcoming calendar, on Thursday, April 11, 2019. (Photo by GTres/Splash News and Pictures)

I would like to tell you why many artists, who like me, have painted portraits and landscapes in oils on canvas, worked with acrylics, watercolors, and pen and ink drawings, have turned to the art of gourd carving.

Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.

The finishing touches are made to a giant sculpture on the Hayward Gallery entitled “Urban Fox” and made from straw bales on April 18, 2011 in London, England. The sculpture features in the Southbank Centre's 60th anniversary celebration of the 1951 Festival of Britain. The celebration will feature various cultural and creative events and runs from April 22 until September 4, 2011 at London's Southbank Centre. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)