Annie Leibovitz

This article is about the American photographer. For the American writer, see Fran Lebowitz.

Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz, October 2006
Birth name	Anna-Lou Leibovitz
Born	October 2 1949 (1949-10-02) Waterbury, Connecticut, United States
Nationality	American
Training	San Francisco Art Institute
Influenced by	mother, a modern dance instructor

Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz (IPA: /ˈliːbəvɪts/) (born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer whose style is marked by a close collaboration between the photographer and the subject. Her photos were first recognized by Rolling Stone Magazine and named her chief photographer, in 1973. She has worked for Vanity Fair since 1983 and photographed numerous stars and celebrities, from teen actress Miley Cyrus to England's Queen Elizabeth II. Her most famous photo appeared on Rolling Stone's front page (January 22, 1981), showing a naked John Lennon wrapped around Yoko Ono, taken just hours before his untimely death. Actress Demi Moore's pregnant and naked body on Vanity Fair's August, 1991 cover is also a popular photo.

She has published seven books including the uniquely personal, "A Photographer’s Life 1990-2005" with photos of her close companion and mentor, author Susan Sontag. She has established herself as an astute observer of American popular culture, and in 2005 American Photo named her the single most influential photographer currently at work.

Early life and education

Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Leibovitz is the third of six children in a Jewish family. Her mother was a modern dance instructor, while her father was a lieutenant colonel in the United States 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.

In high school, she became interested in various artistic endeavors, and began to write and play music. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute and wanted to be an art teacher. She became interested in photography after taking pictures when she lived in the Philippines, where her Air Force father was stationed during the Vietnam War. For several years, she continued to develop her photography skills while she worked various jobs, including a stint on a kibbutz, Amir in Israel for several months in 1969.

Career

Rolling Stone magazine

When Leibovitz returned to America in 1970, she worked for the recently launched Rolling Stone magazine. In 1973, publisher Jann Wenner named Leibovitz chief photographer of Rolling Stone. Leibovitz worked for the magazine in San Francisco and moved with it to New York. She stayed until 1983 and her intimate photographs of celebrities helped define the Rolling Stone look. She reported years later that she "grew" alongside Rolling Stone Magazine.

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

Vanity Fair magazine

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

Leibovitz sued Paramount Pictures for copyright infringement of her Vanity Fair cover photograph of a pregnant Demi Moore from a 1991 issue titled "More Demi Moore." Paramount had commissioned a parody photograph of Leslie Nielsen, pregnant, for use in a promotional poster for the 1994 comedy Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. The case, Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp., has become an important fair use case in U.S. copyright law. At trial, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York found that Paramount's use of the photo constituted fair use because parodies were likely to generate little or no licensing revenue. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed.

Lennon and Ono

On December 8, 1980, Leibovitz had a photo shoot with John Lennon for Rolling Stone, promising him he would make the cover. After she had initially tried to get a picture with just Lennon alone, which is what Rolling Stone wanted, 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 Double Fantasy album cover, a picture that she loved. She had John remove his clothes and curl up next to Yoko. 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 she 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." Leibovitz was the last person to professionally photograph Lennon—he was shot and killed five hours later.

Other noted projects

Leibovitz at "Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005," San Francisco, California, 2008

• In the 1980s, Leibovitz photographed celebrities for an international advertising campaign for American Express charge cards.
• In 1991, Leibovitz mounted an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
• Also in 1991, Leibovitz emulated Margaret Bourke-White's feat, when she mounted 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).
• A major retrospective of Leibovitz's work was held at the Brooklyn Museum. 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 as of April 2008 is at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. The show included 200 photographs. At the exhibition, Leibovitz said that she doesn't have two lives, career and personal, but has one where assignments and personal pictures are all part of her works. This exhibition and her talk focused on her personal photos and life.

Leibovitz's exhibition at The Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA, September, 2007

• In 2007, Leibovitz was asked by 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 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." 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. This led to a BBC scandal and a shake-up of ethics training.
• In 2007, the Walt Disney Company hired her to do a series of photographs with celebrities in various roles and scenes for Disney Parks "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign.

On April 25, 2008, the televised entertainment program Entertainment Tonight reported that 15 year old Miley Cyrus had posed topless for a photo shoot with Vanity Fair. The photo, and subsequently released behind-the-scenes photos, show Cyrus without a top, her bare back exposed but her front covered with a bedsheet. The photo shoot was taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz. 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 that though the pictures left an impression that she was bare-breasted, Cyrus was wrapped in a bedsheet and was actually not topless. 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."

Teen star Miley Cyrus

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."

Leibovitz also released a statement saying:

“"I'm sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted," Leibovitz said. " The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful.

Archive

Since 1977, Leibovitz licensing images have been represented by Contact Press Images, a photojournalism agency based in New York City. Her assignment work is represented by Jim Moffat at A Corporation for Art & Commerce in New York.

Personal life

Leibovitz had a close romantic relationship with noted writer and essayist Susan Sontag, 16 years her senior. They met in 1988 when she photographed her for the book jacket to Sontag's "AIDS and Its Metaphors" when both had already established notability in their careers. Leibovitz has suggested that Sontag mentored her and constructively criticized her work and made her finally feel at home in New York. Sontag supported Leibovitz's work, but always pushed her to work harder, go deeper, get more personal. Sontag was the one who called Vanity Fair editor, Tina Brown about the nude, pregnant Demi Moore photo, Leibovitz shot, and suggested it for a Vanity Fair cover. Arguing any point with Sontag, Leibovitz joked, "was sort of like being with the Harvard debate team. Susan was always right."

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."

Neither Leibovitz nor Sontag had ever previously publicly disclosed whether the relationship was familial, friendship, mentorship 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." She said about the book, "The personal work could have stood alone but I used the assignment work [in this collection] as a punctuation table."

In the preface to the book, she speaks in greater detail about her romantic/intellectual relationship with Sontag, 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. The book and accompanying show include many photographs of Sontag throughout their life together, including several during her illness, on her deathbed, and after she died.

Leibovitz acknowledged that she and 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. 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."

Children

Leibovitz has three children: Sarah Cameron Leibovitz (b. October 2001) was born when Leibovitz was 51 years old. Her twins Susan and Samuelle were born to a surrogate mother in May 2005.

Famous Leibovitz photos

• John Lennon and Yoko Ono for the Jan. 22, 1981 Rolling Stone cover, shot the day of Lennon's death.
• Linda Ronstadt in a red slip, on her bed, reaching for a glass of water in a 1976 cover story for Rolling Stone magazine.
• Actress Demi Moore has been the subject of two highly publicized covers taken by Leibovitz. Vanity Fair 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.
• Actress Brooke Shields, pregnant for the cover of Vogue in April 2003. This was the first image of a visibly pregnant woman on its cover.
• Actress and commentator Whoopi Goldberg lying in a bathtub full of milk, shot from above.
• Artist Christo, fully wrapped so the viewer must take the artist's word that Christo is actually under the wrapping.
• Actor and musician David Cassidy on the infamous Rolling Stone cover depicting him naked from his head to above his crotch.
• Singer and actress Dolly Parton vamping for the camera while then-actor Arnold Schwarzenegger flexes his biceps behind her.
• Actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, as The Blues Brothers, with their faces painted blue.
• Queen Elizabeth on occasion of her state visit in United States in 2007.
• Musician Sting in the desert, covered in mud to blend in with the scenery.
• Closeup portrait of the Who's guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend framed by his bleeding hand dripping real blood down the side of his face.
• "Fire" portrait and caption of singer/songwriter "Patti Smith Catches Fire."
• Singer Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual and True Colors album covers
• Singer Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A. album cover.
• Model Gisele Bündchen and basketballer LeBron James on the April 2008 cover of Vogue America.
• Teen idol Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair photo in which the young star appeared semi-nude, leading to a controversy.

Leibovitz's photo books

• Photographs
• Photographs 1970-1990
• 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

Notes

All links retrieved February 11, 2009.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Harris, Melissa. Aperture : on location—studio visits with Annie Liebovitz, Lorna Simpson, Susan Meiselas, Cindy Sherman, Adam Fuss, Joel-Peter Witkin, Jon Goodman, New York: Aperture, 1993. ISBN 9780893815486
• Howse, C. Annie Liebovitz at Work, by Annie Liebovitz, SPECTATOR -LONDON- WEEKLY- no. 9402, (November 8, 2008): 45, British Library Serials, OCLC 275020460
• Schirmer, Lothar and Elisabeth Bronfen. Women seeing women: a pictorial history of women's photography from Julia Margaret Cameron to Annie Liebovitz, London: Haus, 2007. ISBN 9781905791200

External links

All links retrieved February 11, 2009.

• Annie Liebovitz at Contact Press Images
• 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
• San Francisco Chronicle Interview, Nov. 1, 2006
• 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
• Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
• Gaga Over a Gargoyle, John Loengard's 1991 gripping photo of Annie Leibovitz atop an eagle gargoyle, 61st floor of NY's Chrysler Building.

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