Annie Leibovitz

Anna Lou "Annie" Leibovitz (Waterbury, Connecticut, October 2, 1949) is an American photographer. She was the first woman to exhibit her work at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. and the last to portray musician John Lennon, before he was assassinated in 1980.

She is the highest-paid photographer in the world and has worked for magazines such as Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and Vogue. In 1984 she was awarded by the American Association of Magazine Publishers as Photographer of the Year. In 1988 she received the Clio Award for the American Express advertising campaign. In April 2000, the United States Library of Congress named her a "Living Legend". In 2005, American Photo magazine named her the most influential female photographer of our time. In May In 2013, she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities.

Although she is known mainly for her celebrity portraits, she has practiced documentary and landscape photography, contracted to Condé Nast Publications since 1993. Her images have been represented, since 1977, by the photojournalism agency Contact Press Images.

Biography

She is the third daughter of Jewish marriage Samuel Leibovitz, a lieutenant colonel in the Armed Forces, and Marilyn Heit, a contemporary dance instructor. Her father's military duties forced Annie and her five siblings to move frequently.

In high school Leibovitz became interested in various artistic fields. She began writing and playing music, and entered the San Francisco Art Institute in 1967 because she wanted to be an art teacher. Her interest in photography arose in a dark room at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, where her father he was stationed during the Vietnam War. For several years he continued to develop his photographic skills while working in different locations, including a stint on an Israeli kibbutz in 1969, where he participated in an archaeological dig at King Solomon's Temple.

Career

Returning to the United States in 1971, Leibovitz earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute. Later, he worked with photographer Ralph Gibson.

Rolling Stone Magazine

At that time, she applied to work as a freelance photographer at the then-emerging Rolling Stone magazine. The editor, Jann Wenner, was impressed with her portfolio and allowed her to join his publication's staff.Two years later, Leibovitz was promoted to chief photographer, a position she held for ten years and in which she shot one hundred and forty years. and two covers.

In 1975 he was tasked with documenting the Rolling Stones Tour of the Americas '75 musical tour, which the British group The Rolling Stones performed in the United States and Canada. Two years later, the headquarters of Rolling Stone moved to New York, so Leibovitz left the city of San Francisco after living there for ten years. His arrival in New York was accompanied by various problems, including his addiction to drugs, especially cocaine.

Leibovitz next to the portrait of
Demi Moore at the show
A photographer's life, 1990-2005 in San Francisco, California.

On December 8, 1980, Annie went to musician John Lennon's apartment to photograph him for Rolling Stone. She promised him that one of these images would illustrate the cover of the magazine, although the editors did not want his wife, Yōko Ono, to be pictured alongside him. Annie's idea was to recreate the image on the album art Double fantasy by Lennon himself. Hours after the photo shoot, John was murdered by his admirer, Mark David Chapman, who shot him four times outside his building in New York. Finally, the photograph that Rolling Stone published on the cover on January 22, 1981 —without headlines— was the one in which Lennon appears naked and curled up next to his wife fully dressed as him.

Vanity Fair Magazine

Since 1983, Leibovitz has worked as a portrait artist for the American magazine Vanity Fair, receiving up to 2 million dollars a year for it.

In 1993, he sued the film company Paramount Pictures for infringing the copyright on a photograph of him. The image, which graced the cover of Vanity Fair two years earlier, was that of actress Demi Moore nude showing her pregnancy, Paramount had made a parody of that photograph to promote their comedy film Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult . The poster showed actor Leslie Nielsen "pregnant" and posing exactly like Demi. Annie lost the lawsuit when the court found that the parody photo of her was fair use.

Since 1995, Leibovitz has had the mission of photographing the actors and actresses who appear in The Hollywood Issue, an edition that Vanity Fair publishes in March of each year. with portraits of the most prominent actors in Hollywood.

The polar bear Knut was photographed by Leibovitz in April 2007 for an environmental campaign and also for the cover of Vanity Fair.

In May 2006, Vanity Fair published for the first time a special issue dedicated to caring for the environment: The green issue. The photograph that graced the cover of this issue was taken by Leibovitz, who portrayed actors Julia Roberts and George Clooney alongside environmental activists Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Al Gore. For this image, Annie was inspired by the Ballet Society photograph, taken by Irving Penn in 1948. In the following year's edition, it was actor Leonardo DiCaprio who posed for Leibovitz on a glacier in Iceland. She made a photomontage to get the famous polar bear Knut to appear next to DiCaprio sitting on the ice.

The entire cast of the television series The Sopranos met for the last time at a photo shoot Leibovitz did for Vanity Fair. The report, published in April of 2007, was due to the end of the series in June of that year.

In September 2007, Annie was the first to photograph the daughter of actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Suri, putting an end to rumors that the baby did not exist. peeking out from inside her father's jacket, was featured on the cover of Vanity Fair. The rest of the photographs appeared in the twenty-two page feature dedicated to the Cruise-Holmes family.

In July 2007, Annie had to photograph twenty-one celebrities (actors, singers, models, businessmen, athletes, politicians, and religious) to grace the twenty different covers that Vanity Fair published in its special The Africa issue, edited by singer Bono.

In 1981, Meryl Streep set up for Leibovitz for his first nomination for the Oscar Award as the best actress. During the session, Streep expressed his discomfort for not being playing a character, so he decided to make himself a mime. Finally, his portrait was published on the cover of Rolling Stone. This image shows a reproduction of this photograph made by the painter Michael Cavayero.

At the end of 2007, Leibovitz had exclusive access to the filming studios for the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where he was able to photograph its protagonists and its directors. These became the first images of the film before its release in May 2008 and were published by Vanity Fair in its February issue of that year.

On February 14, 2008, Vanity Fair compiled their most notable celebrity portraits for the exhibit Vanity Fair portraits-photographs 1913-2008, which was mounted at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Annie was one of those who participated in the show.

In May of that year, controversy arose when Annie portrayed singer-actress Miley Cyrus, then fifteen, with only a sheet covering her bust. The Disney company, where Cyrus worked, lamented that Vanity Fair deliberately manipulated a fifteen-year-old girl to sell more magazines. Days later, Miley apologized to her fans, arguing that the magazine had led her to believe that the images were artful. Finally, Leibovitz declared through a press release in Vanity Fair that his photograph had been misinterpreted.

Other projects

In 1986 she was invited to make a series of posters for the Soccer World Cup in Mexico. That was the first time in the history of the tournament that a photographer was entrusted with such a mission.

In 1988, he photographed various celebrities for an advertising campaign for the American Express credit card, for which he won the Clio Award. Two years later she founded the Annie Leibovitz Studio in New York.

In 1991, she became the second living photographer—and the first woman—to exhibit her work at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The show, which featured more than two hundred black-and-white and color, was followed by the publication of the book Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970-1990. That same year, Leibovitz wanted to emulate the feat of photographer Margaret Bourke-White by mounting one of the gargoyles on the sixty-first floor of the Chrysler Building —in Manhattan— to photograph the dancer David Parsons. Life magazine photojournalist John Loengard photographed her near danger on top of the statue. Also in 1991, dancer Mikhail Barishnikov invited Annie to document the creation of the statue. her dance project White oak.

In 1988, Luciano Pavarotti was portrayed by Leibovitz for some American Express ads, for which he won the Clio, Kelly and Advertising Age awards.

In 1992, the short film Zoetrope, directed by Leibovitz, was shown in the United States through the Public Broadcasting Service television channel. In 1993, he began working for the fashion magazine Vogue and received an honorary doctorate from the San Francisco Art Institute, where she had studied in her youth. At that time, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation exhibited a series of portraits taken by Annie of people sick with AIDS, and an exhibition was also set up with the photos that she had captured during the Siege of Sarajevo and the Bosnian War months before.

In 1996, Leibovitz was the official photographer of the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. A compilation of black and white portraits of athletes was published in June of that year in the book Olympic portraits. Her next publication was Women (1999), which was accompanied by an essay written by her partner, Susan Sontag. In the female portraits of this collection appeared judges, miners and farmers, among others.

In the year 2000, she was in charge of choosing and retracting five women for the calendar that the Italian company Pirelli publishes each season.

Subsequently, The New York Times newspaper hired Leibovitz to document the construction of its corporate building in New York City between July 2005 and July 2006. The collection of thirty-five images was inspired by the photographs that Lewis Hine and Margaret Bourke-White took in the 1930s of the Chrysler and Empire State buildings respectively.

In October 2006, the documentary Annie Leibovitz: A Life Through the Lens was shown, directed by Annie's younger sister, Barbara. It showed intimate scenes of the photographer's life, as well as interviews with various celebrities who posed for her.

A retrospective of her work was held at the Brooklyn Museum, from October 2006 to January 2007. The exhibit was based on her book Annie Leibovitz: a photographer's life, 1990– 2005 and included portraits of celebrities as well as his own family. Among the photographs was that of the corpse of Susan Sontag, who had died of cancer in 2004.

According to a trailer issued by the BBC, Queen Elizabeth II reacted angry when Annie suggested removing the crown during a photo shoot at Buckingham Palace. It was all a misunderstanding.

In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom asked Annie to take the official photos of her state visit to Virginia. The photo session was recorded by the BBC television channel for the documentary A year with the Queen (in Spanish: 'Un año con la Reina'). A promotional trailer for the documentary showed the Queen reacting angrily when Leibovitz suggested she remove her crown to look more casual. Another scene was then shown showing the Queen walking down a corridor while saying to an aide: " I'm not going to change anything. I've had enough of dressing like this, thanks to you». The BBC later apologized and admitted that the sequence of events in the trailer was wrong, and that the trailer was released in error, because it contained outtakes.

Also in 2007, the Walt Disney Company hired Leibovitz to take a series of photographs with celebrities playing different characters from their classic movies. The advertising campaign was called Walt Disney world's year of a million dreams (in Spanish: 'The year of the million dreams of the Walt Disney world').

In late July 2007, fashion accessories brand Louis Vuitton ran an ad campaign with Leibovitz as the photographer. The celebrities who participated that occasion were the tennis players André Agassi and Steffi Graf, the actress Catherine Deneuve and the politician Mikhail Gorbachev, who posed in the back seat of a car with the remains of the Berlin Wall in the background. Months later, other Entertainment personalities who posed for Annie included The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, actor Sean Connery, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, Coppola's daughter Sofia, French model Laetitia Casta, and astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Jim Lovell and Sally Ride.

In mid-March 2008, Annie photographed model Gisele Bündchen and basketball player LeBron James for a historic cover of Vogue. them Samir Husni—assured that the image had racist connotations, because James's pose was reminiscent of King Kong, while Bündchen represented the blonde who captivates the gorilla. In December of the same year, Annie appeared on the list of "The 10 Most Fascinating People of the Year", compiled annually by noted journalist Barbara Walters.

Awards

In 2009 the Royal Photographic Society awarded her the Centenary Medal, which recognizes her significant contribution to the art of photography. In May 2013 she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities. In 2015 she was recognized with the Páez Medal of Arts.

Memorable portraits

The President of the United States, Barack Obama, and his family posing for Leibovitz in the White House Green Hall. 1 September 2009.

• Yōko Ono lying while her husband, John Lennon, hugs her and huddles completely naked.
• The artist Michael Jackson in one of his many iconic poses, is specifically on the tip of his feet, jeans and open white shirt and hands back in 1988 for the magazine Vanity Fair.
• Bruce Springsteen. Specifically the singer's ass mixed up in old cowboys; it was a random photograph taken in the photo shoot of the album Born in the U.S.A.And it ended up becoming the album cover.
• The naked actress Demi Moore, exhibiting her seven-month pregnancy for the 1991 Vanity Fair cover.
• Whoopi Goldberg immersed in a milk-filled bathtub, letting only see her face and her limbs.
• George W. Bush and his Cabinet posing at the White House Oval Office after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
• The Bulgarian artist Christo wrapped entirely in fabric, just as he packs the buildings.
• The singer Dolly Parton posing smiling, while the actor Arnold Schwarzenegger flects her biceps behind her without showing her face.
• The actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi disguised as The Blues Brothers with their blue painted faces.
• Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, looking to London through the window of a Buckingham Palace lounge.
• The artist Keith Haring, who appears with his body painted equal to one of his paintings.
• Russian politician Mikhail Gorbachev sitting in a car with the remains of the Berlin Wall at the bottom.
• The singer Sting covered in mud in the desert, mimicing with the landscape.

• A close-up of the musician Pete Townshend, who backs his head on his hand as he sprouts blood from his palm.

• The singer and actress Miley Cyrus covering her bust only with a white sheet when she was fifteen years old.

• The Olympic exatlet and medalist Caitlyn Jenner posing for the first time as a woman after her sex change in May 2015.

Books

• Annie Leibovitz (1983). "Photographs". Pantheon/Rolling Stone Press. ISBN 978-0-394-53208-0.
• Annie Leibovitz (1991). «Photographs: Annie Leibovitz, 1970-1990». HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-06-016608-3.
• Annie Leibovitz (1996). "Olympic portraits". Bulfinch Pr. ISBN 978-0-8212-2366-6.
• Annie Leibovitz; Susan Sontag (1999). "Women." Random House. ISBN 0-375-75646-9.
• Annie Leibovitz (2000). "Stardust: Annie Leibovitz, 1970-1999." Louisiana Museum for Modern Art. ISBN 978-87-90029-49-4.

• Annie Leibovitz (2003). «Annie Leibovitz: American music». Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-224-07271-7.
• Annie Leibovitz (2006). « Annie Leibovitz: A photographer's life, 1990 – 2005». Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-50509-6.
• Annie Leibovitz (2008). "Annie Leibovitz at work". Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-50510-2.
• Annie Leibovitz; Doris Kearns Goodwin (2011). "Pilgrimage". Random House. ISBN 0-375-50508-3.
• Annie Leibovitz; Steve Martin; Graydon Carter; Hans Ulrich Obrist; Paul Roth (2014). "SUMO." Taschen.

Private life

The exhibition Pilgrimage at the Concord Museum, Massachusetts, in July 2012.

Leibovitz had a romantic relationship with the prestigious writer and essayist Susan Sontag, whom he met in 1988 when he photographed her for the jacket of his book AIDS and Its Metaphors. They never lived together, but they had apartments that they could see each other in. Sontag used to criticize and pressure Annie to work harder, and for her to get deeper and more personal. In fact, when Leibovitz portrayed Demi Moore nude and pregnant, it was Sontag who persuaded Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown to publish the controversial photo.

Their relationship lasted 16 years. It culminated in December 2004, when Susan passed away from complications of a myelodysplastic syndrome that led to acute myelogenous leukemia. Annie closed a cycle with her by photographing her on her deathbed, and was still in mourning when her father also died, in early 2005.

Neither Leibovitz nor Sontag had publicly clarified whether their relationship was familial, friendly or romantic in nature. However, when Annie was interviewed for her 2006 book, A photographer's life: 1990-2005, she stated: "With Susan, it was a story of love» .

In the foreword to her book, Leibovitz gave details about her lesbianism and her romantic-intellectual relationship with Sontag. She also said that they were both preparing a book together, and narrated how difficult it was to mourn after her death.

Finally, Annie acknowledged that she had a romantic relationship with Sontag. When asked why she referred to Susan as "partner" and not specifically as "lover" or "partner," Leibovitz said that "lover" was more appropriate. Annie later told the San Francisco Chronicle: "Call us 'lovers.' I like "lovers". You know, "lovers" sounds romantic. I want to be perfectly clear. I love Susan." Leibovitz has three daughters: Sarah Cameron (2001) and twins Susan and Samuelle (2005), who were gestated by a surrogate mother.