Does this really belong in a museum?

Times art critic Christopher Knight is taking the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to task for its new exhibition -- a collection of Vanity Fair magazine photographs, including the much-talked-about photo, above, featuring Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson. Says Knight: " 'Vanity Fair Portraits' is a vanity exhibition, plain and simple. And that's precisely what our historic moment needs least right now, especially from a major civic art museum."

Reaction to Knight's article so far has ranged from this:

Ugh. No wonder the East Coast looks down on us. -- Frank F

and this ... :

I absolutely agree. LACMA seems to always be struggling to be taken seriously and this exhibit really sets the museum back. I have never been a fan of these types of portraits. I look at the image and imagine if it would be considered anything at all if it didn't have a celebrity in it. Same image but just an ordinary person. Almost always it doesn't stand up. -- daphne V

... to this:

Um, get over yourself. If you don't like it, don't go. And oh, btw, who are you Christopher Knight? Little jealous, maybe? -- Bob

Read the rest of Knight's take here and take a spin through a photo gallery of some of the images on display. And then tell us: Does this exhibition qualify as art?

Photo: Annie Leibovitz / Contact Press Images