ANNIE LEIBOVITZ

'Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz' () (born October 2, 1949) is a noted American portrait photographer whose style is marked by a close collaboration between the photographer and the subject.

Contents

Biography

Career

''Rolling Stone'' magazine

Other noted projects

Personal life

Children

Selected Leibovitz photos

Leibovitz's photo books

References in popular culture

References

External links

Biography

Leibovitz was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, one of six children and was a military brat; her father was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force, and family moved frequently when she was young. Leibovitz was influenced by her mother, a modern dance instructor.
In high school, she became interested in various artistic endeavors, and wrote and played music. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute. She became interested in photography after taking pictures on a trip to visit her family, then otherwise based in the Philippines. For several years, she continued to develop her photography skills while she worked various jobs, including a stint on a kibbutz in Israel for several months in 1969. Annie Leibovitz Biography

Career

''Rolling Stone'' magazine

When Leibovitz returned to America in 1970, she became involved with ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, which had just launched a short time before.
In 1973, publisher Jann Wenner named Leibovitz chief photographer of the magazine, and she remained with the magazine until 1983. Her intimate portraits of celebrities helped define the look of the magazine.

Other noted projects

★ In 1975, Leibovitz served as a concert-tour photographer for the The Rolling Stones's Tour of the Americas.

★ In the 1980s, Leibovitz photographed celebrities for an international advertising campaign for American Express charge cards.

★ Since 1983, Leibovitz has worked as a featured portrait photographer for ''Vanity Fair''.

★ In 1991, Leibovitz mounted an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery.

★ In 2007, Leibovitz was asked by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to take her 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 crown, 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."^[1] The BBC later apologised and admitted that the sequence of events had been misrepresented, as the Queen was in fact walking to the sitting in the second scene.^[2]

Personal life

Leibovitz had a close romantic relationship with noted writer and essayist Susan Sontag. They met in 1990, when both had already established notability in their careers. Leibovitz has suggested that Sontag mentored her and constructively criticized her work.
After Sontag's death in 2004, ''Newsweek'' published an article about Leibovitz that made reference to her decade-plus relationship with Sontag, stating that "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."^[3]
Neither Leibovitz nor Sontag had ever previously publicly disclosed whether the relationship was familial, a friendship, or romantic in nature. However, when Leibovitz was interviewed for her 2006 book ''A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005'', she said the book told a number of stories, and that "with Susan, it was a love story".^[4]
In the preface to the new book, she speaks in greater detail about her romantic/intellectual relationship with Sontag and her lesbianism, briefly discussing a book they were working on together and describes how assembling her new book was part of the grieving process after Sontag's death.
Leibovitz acknowledged that she and the late Sontag were romantically involved. When asked why she used terms like "companion" to describe Sontag, instead of more specific ones like "partner" or "lover", Leibovitz finally said that "lover" was fine with her.^[5] She later repeated the assertion in stating to the ''San Francisco Chronicle'':
"Call us 'lovers'. I like 'lovers.' You know, 'lovers' sounds romantic. I mean, I want to be perfectly clear. I love Susan." Love, family, celebrity, grief -- Leibovitz puts her life on display in photo memoir

Children

Leibovitz has three children: Sarah Cameron Leibovitz (b. October 2001) was born when Annie was 52 years old. Her twins Susan and Samuelle were born to a surrogate mother in May 2005.

Selected Leibovitz photos

★ Yoko Ono and John Lennon, Cover of Rolling Stone #325: Originally intended to feature both subject nude, Ono's reluctance led to the photograph featuring a disrobed Lennon hugging his clothed wife. Taken on the morning of December 8, 1980, this was one of the last photographs of Lennon, who was murdered by a deranged fan later in the day.^[6]

★ Demi Moore has been the subject of two highly publicized covers taken by Leibovitz. The magazine featured a nude Moore who, at the time, was seven months pregnant with her daughter Scout LaRue. Moore also appeared later on the cover of the same magazine nude with a suit painted on her body. [1]

★ Whoopi Goldberg lying in a bathtub full of milk, shot from above. [2]

★ Christo, fully wrapped so the viewer must take the artist's word that Christo is actually under the wrapping. [3]

★ Dolly Parton vamping for the camera while Arnold Schwarzenegger flexes his biceps behind her.

★ Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, as The Blues Brothers, with their faces painted blue.

★ Queen Elizabeth in occasion of her visit in US 2007 46309

Leibovitz's photo books

★ ''Photographs''

★ ''Photographs 1970-1990''

★ ''American Olympians''

★ ''Women''

★ ''American Music''

★ ''A Photographer’s Life 1990-2005'' (catalog for a travelling exhibit that debuted at the Brooklyn Museum in October 2006)

References in popular culture

★ The New York branch of Madame Tussauds wax museum has a wax figure of Leibovitz on display.

★ In the movie Almost Famous when Williams's article becomes the cover story for Rolling Stone magazine, Annie Leibovitz is the photographer assigned to shoot the cover.

★ In the ''Simpsons'' episode "They Saved Lisa's Brain," a photographer modelled on Leibovitz takes erotic photos of Homer Simpson.

★ In ''Memento,'' Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) calls Leonard (Guy Pearce) Leibovitz, commenting on his photo of Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss).

★ In ''American Psycho,'' Patrick Bateman's girlfriend refers to Leibovitz when discussing wedding plans in a taxi on route to Espace.

★ In ''Will and Grace'', the title characters have their photograph taken by celebrity photographer "Fanny Lieber", played by Glenn Close.

★ In ''Friends'', Rachel Green pretends that Annie Leibovitz was the photographer at her wedding.

References

1. BBC sorry for misrepresenting Queen
2. Broadcaster sorry for queen claim
3. Through Her Lens
4. From Annie Leibovitz: Life, and Death, Examined
5.
6. No byline (Sep 30, 2004)"John and Yoko" RollingStone.com (accessed July 25, 2007)

External links

★ NPR's interview with Leibovitz, All Things Considered, October 3, 2006

★ October 17th 2006 Interview with Tom Ashbrook on NPR’s ''On Point''.

★ Interview by Michael Krasny on KQED Forum, October 26, 2006

★ 1 Nov 06 San Francisco Chronicle Interview

★ Timeline of Leibovitz's life and career by Temple University.

★ Collection of Leibovitz's portrait photographs by Temple University.

★ Review of Leibovitz's ''American Music'' exhibit at the Austin Museum of Art in Fotophile Magazine

★ Annie Leibovitz's thoughts on Earth Day 2006

★ BBC Offers Apologies For Showing Film Of Angry Queen