Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz
Leibovitz in February 2008
Born	Anna-Lou Leibovitz (1949-10-02) October 2, 1949 Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	San Francisco Art Institute
Known for	Photography

Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz (/ˈliːbəvɪts/; born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer. She photographed John Lennon on the day he was assassinated, and her work was used on two record albums by Joan Armatrading. She is the first woman to have held an exhibition at London’s National Portrait Gallery.

Leibovitz is much influenced by Richard Avedon, and his 'personal reportage', developing close rapport with her subjects.

Early life

Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on October 2, 1949,^[1] Anna-Lou Leibovitz is the third of six children of Marilyn Edith (née Heit) and Samuel Leibovitz.^[2] She is a third-generation American; her father's parents were Romanian-Jews.^[2] Her mother was a modern dance instructor of Estonian-Jewish heritage. Her father was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force. The family moved frequently with her father's duty assignments, and she took her first pictures when he was stationed in the Philippines during the Vietnam War.^[3]

At Northwood High School in Silver Spring, Maryland,^[4] she became interested in various artistic endeavors and began to write and play music. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute,^[4] where she studied painting. For several years, she continued to develop her photography skills while holding various jobs, including a stint on a kibbutz in Amir, Israel, for several months in 1969.^[5]

Career

Rolling Stone

When Leibovitz returned to the United States in 1970, she started her career as staff photographer, working for Rolling Stone magazine. In 1973, publisher Jann Wenner named Leibovitz chief photographer of Rolling Stone, a job she would hold for 10 years. Leibovitz worked for the magazine until 1983, and her intimate photographs of celebrities helped define the Rolling Stone look.^[5]

While working for Rolling Stone, Leibovitz became more aware of the other magazines and learned that she could work for magazines and still create personal work, which for her was the most important. She sought intimate moments with her subjects, who "open their hearts and souls and lives to you". ^[6]

She was awarded The Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography in 2009.

Inspirations

Photographers such as Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson influenced her during her time at the San Francisco Art Institute. "Their style of personal reportage‍—‌taken in a graphic way‍—‌was what we were taught to emulate."^[6] Leibovitz has also cited Richard Avedon's portraits as an important and powerful example in her life.

The Rolling Stones

Leibovitz photographed the Rolling Stones in San Francisco in 1971 and 1972, and served as the concert-tour photographer for the Rolling Stones' Tour of the Americas '75. Her favorite photo from the tour was a photo of Mick Jagger in an elevator.^[7]

Joan Armatrading

In 1978 Leibovitz became the first woman to photograph Joan Armatrading for an album. She did the photography for Armatrading's fifth studio album To the Limit, spending four days at her house capturing the images.^[8] Leibovitz also did the photography for Armatrading's live album, Steppin' Out.

John Lennon

On December 8, 1980, Leibovitz had a photo shoot with John Lennon for Rolling Stone, and she promised him he would make the cover.^[9] She had initially tried to get a picture with just Lennon alone, as Rolling Stone wanted, but Lennon insisted that both he and Yoko Ono be on the cover. Leibovitz then tried to re-create something like the kissing scene from the couple's Double Fantasy 1980 album cover, a picture Leibovitz loved, and she had John remove his clothes and curl up next to Yoko on the floor. Leibovitz recalls, "What is interesting is she said she'd take her top off and I said, 'Leave everything on'‍—‌not really preconceiving the picture at all. Then he curled up next to her and it was very, very strong. You couldn't help but feel that he was cold and he looked like he was clinging on to her. I think it was amazing to look at the first Polaroid and they were both very excited. John said, 'You've captured our relationship exactly. Promise me it'll be on the cover.' I looked him in the eye and we shook on it."^[10] Leibovitz was the last person to professionally photograph Lennon‍—‌he was shot and killed five hours later.^[11]

The photograph was subsequently re-created in 2009 by John and Yoko's son Sean Lennon, posing with his girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl, with male/female roles reversed (Sean clothed, Kemp naked),^[12][13] and by Henry Bond and Sam Taylor-Wood in their YBA pastiche October 26, 1993.^[14]

In 2011, Leibovitz was nominated alongside Singaporean photographer Dominic Khoo and Wing Shya for Asia Pacific Photographer of the Year.^[15]

Other projects

• In the 1980s, Leibovitz's new style of lighting and use of bold colors and poses got her a position with Vanity Fair magazine.^[16]
• Leibovitz photographed celebrities for an international advertising campaign for American Express charge cards, which won a Clio award in 1987.
• In 1991, Leibovitz mounted an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. She was the second living portraitist and first woman to show there.^[11]
• In 1991, Leibovitz had been made Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.^[11]
• Also in 1991, Leibovitz emulated Margaret Bourke-White's feat by mounting one of the eagle gargoyles on the 61st floor of the Chrysler Building in Manhattan, where she photographed the dancer David Parsons cavorting on another eagle gargoyle. Noted Life photographer and picture editor John Loengard made a gripping photo of Leibovitz at the climax of her danger. (Loengard was photographing Leibovitz for The New York Times that day).
• In 2007, major retrospective of Leibovitz's work was held at the Brooklyn Museum,^[17] The retrospective was based on her book, Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990–2005 and included many of her professional (celebrity) photographs as well as numerous personal photographs of her family, children, and partner Susan Sontag. This show, which was expanded to include three of the official portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, then went on the road for seven stops. It was on display at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., from October 2007 to January 2008 and at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco from March 2008 to May 2008. In February 2009, the exhibition was moved to Berlin, Germany.^[18] The show included 200 photographs.^[19] At the exhibition, Leibovitz showed that she doesn't have two lives, career and personal, but has one wherein assignments and personal pictures are all part of her works. This exhibition and her talk focused on her personal photographs and life.
• In 2007, The BBC misrepresented Leibovitz's portrait shooting of Queen Elizabeth II, to take the Queen's official picture for her state visit to Virginia. This was filmed for the BBC documentary A Year with the Queen. A promotional trailer for the film showed the Queen reacting angrily to Leibovitz's suggestion ("less dressy") that she remove her tiara, then a scene of the Queen walking down a corridor, telling an aide "I'm not changing anything. I've had enough dressing like this, thank you very much."^[20] The BBC later apologized and admitted that the sequence of events had been misrepresented, as the Queen was in fact walking to the sitting in the second scene.^[21] This led to a BBC scandal and a shake-up of ethics training. However a 2015 London Times article published just ahead of the Queen's reign exceeding that of Queen Victoria contradicts this story. It stated that the Queen was both incredulous at being asked to remove her crown as "no-one tells her what to do" and insulted as the item was only a tiara.^[22]
• In 2007, The Walt Disney Company hired her to do a series of photographs with celebrities in various roles and scenes for the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign.^[23][24] Leibovitz claims she never liked the word "celebrity". "I've always been more interested in what they do than who they are, I hope that my photographs reflect that." She tries to receive a little piece of each subject's personality in the photos.^[6]
• On April 25, 2008, Entertainment Tonight reported that 15-year-old Miley Cyrus had posed topless for a photo shoot with Vanity Fair.^[25][26] The photograph and subsequently released behind-the-scenes photographs show Cyrus topless, her bare back exposed but her front covered with a bedsheet. The photo was taken by Leibovitz.^[27] The full photograph was published with an accompanying story on The New York Times' website on April 27, 2008. On April 29, 2008, The New York Times clarified: though the pictures left an impression that she was bare-breasted, Cyrus was wrapped in a bedsheet and was actually not topless.^[28] Some parents expressed outrage at the nature of the photograph, which a Disney spokesperson described as "a situation [that] was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines".^[28]
  In response to the Internet circulation of the photo and ensuing media attention, Cyrus released a statement of apology on April 27:

  I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about.^[28]

  Leibovitz also released a statement saying:

  I'm sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted. ... The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.^[28][29]

• In October 2011, Leibovitz had an exhibit in Moscow. In an interview with Rossiya 24, she explained her photography style.^[30]
• In 2014, the New-York Historical Society mounted an exhibit of Leibovitz's work, based on her 2011 book, Pilgrimages.^[31]

Archive

Since 1977, Leibovitz licensing images have been represented by Contact Press Images, a photojournalism agency based in New York City. She ceased to be represented by Jim Moffat at A Corporation for Art & Commerce in 2009.

Pirelli calendar

In 2015, Leibovitz was the principal photographer for the 2016 Pirelli calendar. Leibovitz took a drastic shift from the calendar traditional style by focusing on admirable women as opposed to sexuality. The 2016 calendar included Amy Schumer, Serena Williams and Patti Smith. Leibovitz previously worked on the 2000 calendar.^[32]

Personal life

Children

Leibovitz has three children. Her daughter Sarah Cameron Leibovitz was born in October 2001 when Leibovitz was 52 years old.^[33] Her twins (two girls), Susan and Samuelle, were born to a surrogate mother in May 2005.^[34]

Relationships

Leibovitz had a close relationship with writer and essayist Susan Sontag from 1989 until Sontag's death in 2004. During Sontag's lifetime, neither woman publicly disclosed whether the relationship was a platonic friendship or romantic. Newsweek magazine in 2006 made reference to Leibovitz's decade-plus relationship with Sontag, stating, "The two first met in the late '80s, when Leibovitz photographed her for a book jacket. They never lived together, though they each had an apartment within view of the other's."^[35] Leibovitz, when interviewed for her autobiography A Photographer's Life: 1990–2005, said the book told a number of stories, and "with Susan, it was a love story."^[36] While The New York Times in 2009 referred to Sontag as Leibovitz's "companion",^[37] Leibovitz wrote in A Photographer's Life that, "Words like 'companion' and 'partner' were not in our vocabulary. We were two people who helped each other through our lives. The closest word is still 'friend'."^[38] That same year, Leibovitz said the descriptor "lover" was accurate.^[39] She later reiterated, "Call us 'lovers'. I like 'lovers.' You know, 'lovers' sounds romantic. I mean, I want to be perfectly clear. I love Susan."^[34]

Religion

Despite being raised in a Jewish home, Leibovitz no longer practices Judaism. When asked if being Jewish is important to her, Leibovitz replied, "I'm not a practicing Jew, but I feel very Jewish."^[2]

Financial troubles

In February 2009, Leibovitz borrowed US$15.5 million, after having experienced financial challenges,^[40] putting up several houses as well as the rights to all of her photographs as collateral.^[41] The New York Times noted that "one of the world's most successful photographers essentially pawned every snap of the shutter she had made or will make until the loans are paid off,"^[40] and that, despite a US$50 million archive, Leibovitz had a "long history of less than careful financial dealings" and "a recent series of personal issues" including the loss of her parents and the 2004 death of Sontag, as well as the addition of two children to her family, and controversial renovation of three Greenwich Village properties.^[37]

The Greenwich Village properties, at 755–757 Greenwich Street, are part of the Greenwich Village Historic District, and thus the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission must review and approve any work done to the buildings. However, work initiated on the buildings in October 2002, without a permit, began a chain of destruction of those buildings and the neighbor's at 311 West 11th Street.^[42] Due to pressure from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and other groups, the buildings were finally stabilized, though the preservation group criticized the eventual repairs as shoddy and historically insensitive.^[43]

In July 2009, the Art Capital Group filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Leibovitz for US$24 million regarding repayment of these loans.^[44] In a follow-up article dated September 5, 2009, an Associated Press story quoted legal experts as saying that filing for bankruptcy reorganization might offer Leibovitz her best chance to control and direct the disposition of her assets to satisfy debts.^[45] On September 11, Art Capital Group withdrew its lawsuit against Leibovitz and extended the due date for repayment of the US$24 million loan. Under the agreement, Leibovitz retains control over her work and will be the "exclusive agent in the sale of her real property (land) and copyrights".^[46]

In March 2010, Colony Capital concluded a new financing and marketing agreement with Leibovitz, paying off Art Capital and removing or reducing the risks to Leibovitz of losing her artistic and real estate.^[47] The following month, Brunswick Capital Partners sued Leibovitz, claiming it was owed several hundred thousand dollars for helping her restructure her debt.^[48] That December 2012, Leibovitz listed her West Village townhouse for sale at US$33 million, stating she wanted to move closer to her daughter.^[49]

Noted photographs

Leibovitz in front of her More Demi Moore Vanity Fair cover photo, 2008

• John Lennon and Yoko Ono for the Jan. 22, 1981, Rolling Stone cover, taken the day Lennon was murdered.^[50][51]
• Prisoners at Soledad State Prison in California, each hugging a visiting family member, with each couple standing a few feet from the next, taken on Christmas 1971.
• Linda Ronstadt in a red slip, on her bed, reaching for a glass of water in a 1976 cover story for Rolling Stone magazine.^[52]
• Demi Moore has been the subject of two highly publicized Vanity Fair covers taken by Leibovitz: More Demi Moore (Aug. 1991) featuring Moore pregnant and nude, and Demi's Birthday Suit (Aug 1992), showing Moore nude with a suit painted on her body.^[53]
• Marion Cotillard for the Autumn/Winter 2009 collection of the Lady Dior - Lady Rouge handbag campaign^[54] and for the November 2009 cover of Vogue with the cast of Nine.^[55]
• Fleetwood Mac for a 1977 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood are shown lying together, as are Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham at the opposite end of the bed. John McVie is shown reading Playboy magazine.^[56]
• Whoopi Goldberg lying in a bathtub full of milk, shot from above.^[57]
• Christo, fully wrapped so the viewer must take the artist's word that Christo is actually under the wrapping.^[58]
• David Cassidy on the Rolling Stone cover depicting him naked from his head to his waist.
• Dolly Parton vamping for the camera while Arnold Schwarzenegger flexes his biceps behind her, featured in an August 25, 1977, Rolling Stone photo spread.^[59]
• Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as The Blues Brothers, with their faces painted blue.^[60]
• Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson, both nude, with a fully clothed Tom Ford, for the cover of Vanity Fair's March 2006 Hollywood Issue.^[61]
• Knut with Leonardo DiCaprio, a 2007 Vanity Fair cover.^[62]
• Queen Elizabeth II on occasion of her state visit in United States in 2007, and in 2016 at Windsor Castle to mark her 90th birthday.^[63][64]
• Jackie and Joan Collins in a limo, Los Angeles 1987.^[65]
• Sting, with whom she shares a birthday, naked in the desert, covered in mud to blend in with the scenery.^[66]
• Closeup portrait of Pete Townshend framed by his bleeding hand dripping real blood down the side of his face.^[67]
• "Fire" portrait and caption "Patti Smith Catches Fire."^[68][69]
• Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual and True Colors album covers^[70][71]
• Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A. and Tunnel of Love album cover.^[72][73]
• Gisele Bündchen and LeBron James on the April 2008 cover of Vogue America.^[74][75]
• Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair photo in which the child star appeared semi-nude, leading to a controversy.
• Michael Jackson twice for the cover of Vanity Fair magazine, including other additional photographs of him that were not featured on the cover of the magazine.
• Bill Gates for the cover of Gates' book The Road Ahead.
• Family of Barack Obama in the White House.^[76]
• Johnny Depp and Kate Moss at the Royalton Hotel, New York in 1994. A nude Moss laying on a bed while fully clothed Depp is lying between her legs, covering her abdomen.
• Lance Armstrong riding his Trek Madone bicycle in the buff in the rain. It was shown in Vanity Fair's 1999 December issue.
• Lady Gaga for Vogue and Vanity Fair.
• Rihanna for Vogue in 2011 and 2012.
• The cast of Les Misérables (Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen) for Vogue in 2012.
• Benedict Cumberbatch for Vogue in 2013^[77]
• Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and their daughter North for Vogue in 2014.^[78]
• Dane DeHaan for Prada.
• Amy Van Dyken posing underwater with a milk mustache as part of the 1996 Milk Mustache campaign.
• The cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens for Vanity Fair in 2015.
• Caitlyn Jenner for Vanity Fair.^[79] in 2015.
• Mark Zuckerberg and his pregnant wife Priscilla Chan in 2015.^[80]
• Adele for Vogue in 2016.
• Christopher Hitchens at dinner on the night of his marriage to Carol Blue. Used on the cover of Hitchens' book For the Sake of Argument^[81]

Awards

• 2013 Prince of Asturias Award for Communication.^[82]
• The Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography in 2009.^[83]

Bibliography

• Photographs
• Photographs 1970–1990
• "Dancers: Photographs by Annie Leibovitz"
• "White Oak Dance Project: Photographs by Annie Leibovitz"
• Olympic Portraits
• Women
• American Music
• A Photographer's Life 1990–2005 (catalog for a traveling exhibit that debuted at the Brooklyn Museum in October 2006)
• Annie Leibovitz: At Work
• Pilgrimage
• "Annie Leibovitz" (SUMO-sized book with 250 photographs with a supplementary book featuring essays by Annie Leibovitz, Graydon Carter, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Paul Roth)

References

External links

• A Photographer's Life (Vida de una fotógrafa), Literal, Latin American Voices, Houston, Texas
• Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
• David J. Marcou's Smithsonian article of February 2008, pp. 10–12, Gaga Over a Gargoyle, covering John Loengard's gripping photo of Annie Leibovitz photographing atop an eagle gargoyle on the 61st floor of New York's Chrysler Building in 1991.
• Annie Leibovitz. A Photographer's Life 1990-2005, an exhibition at The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia, from June 21 through September 12, 2011.

Media related to Annie Leibovitz at Wikimedia Commons