Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American
portrait photographer
Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective Photographic lighting, lighting, Painted photography backdrops, backdrops, and poses. A portr ...
best known for her engaging portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's
Polaroid photo of
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
and
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
, taken five hours before
Lennon's murder
On the evening of 8 December 1980, English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles, was shot and fatally wounded in the archway of the Dakota, his residence in New York City. The killer was Mark David Chapman, an American Beatles fan wh ...
, is considered one of
''Rolling Stone'' magazine's most famous cover photographs. The
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
declared her a
Living Legend, and she is the first woman to have a feature exhibition at
Washington's National Portrait Gallery.
Early life
Born in
Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...
, on October 2, 1949,
Anna-Lou Leibovitz is the third of six children of Marilyn Edith (née Heit) and Samuel Leibovitz.
She is a third-generation American. Her father was a
lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
in the
U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
of
Romanian-Jewish
The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...
heritage
and her mother was a
modern dance
Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...
instructor of
Estonian-Jewish heritage. The family moved frequently with her father's duty assignments, and she took her first pictures when he was stationed in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.
Leibovitz's passion for art was born out of her mother's engagement with dance, music, and painting.
While attending
Northwood High School Northwood High School may refer to:
* Northwood High School (Irvine, California)
* Northwood High School (Louisiana)
* Northwood High School (Montgomery County, Maryland)
* NorthWood High School, Nappanee, Indiana
* Northwood High School (North C ...
in
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ce ...
,
she became interested in various artistic endeavors and began to write and play music.
Education
Leibovitz attended the
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...
,
[ where she studied painting with the intention of becoming an art teacher.] At school, she had her first photography workshop and changed her major to photography. She was inspired by the work of Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as cap ...
. 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.
Career
For many years Leibovitz's camera of choice was a Mamiya RZ67
The Mamiya RZ67 is a professional medium format single-lens reflex system camera manufactured by Mamiya. There are three successive models: the RZ67 Professional (first model released in 1982), RZ67 Professional II (released in 1993) and RZ67 P ...
. She also has used the following cameras:
* Hasselblad 500 C/M
* Minolta SRT-101
* Nikon D810
The Nikon D810 is a 36.3-megapixel professional-grade full-frame digital single-lens reflex camera produced by Nikon. The camera was officially announced in June 2014, and became available in July 2014.
Compared to the former D800/D800E it off ...
* Fuji 6x9 medium format camera (a.k.a. The 'Texas Leica')
* Canon 5D Mark II
*Hasselblad H5D
1970–1980
''Rolling Stone''
When Leibovitz returned to the United States in 1970, she started her career as staff photographer for ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine. In 1973, publisher Jann Wenner
Jann Simon Wenner ( ; born January 7, 1946) is an American magazine magnate who is a co-founder of the popular culture magazine ''Rolling Stone'', and former owner of '' Men's Journal'' magazine. He participated in the Free Speech Movement while ...
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.
While working for ''Rolling Stone'', Leibovitz learned that she could work for magazines and still create personal work of her family, which for her was the most important: "You don't get the opportunity to do this kind of intimate work except with the people you love, the people who will put up with you. They're the people who open their hearts and souls and lives to you. You must take care of them."
The Rolling Stones
Leibovitz photographed the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
in San Francisco in 1971 and 1972, and served as the concert-tour photographer for the Rolling Stones' Tour of the Americas '75
The Rolling Stones' Tour of the Americas '75 was a 1975 concert tour originally intended to reach both North and South America. The plans for concerts in Central and South America never solidified, however, and the tour covered only the United ...
. Her favorite photo from the tour was a photo of Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
in an elevator.
John Lennon
On December 8, 1980, Leibovitz had a photo shoot with John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
for ''Rolling Stone'', and she promised him he would make the cover. 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
Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野 洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking.
Ono grew up i ...
be on the cover. Leibovitz then tried to re-create something like the kissing scene from the couple's ''Double Fantasy
''Double Fantasy'' is the fifth album by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, released in November 1980 on Geffen Records. Produced by Lennon, Ono and Jack Douglas, it was the seventh and final studio album released by Lennon during his lifetime. The al ...
'' album cover, a picture Leibovitz loved. She had John remove his clothes and curl up next to Yoko on the floor. Leibovitz recalls,
Leibovitz was the last person to professionally photograph Lennon—he was shot and killed five hours later. A month or so later, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine gave grieving music fans his "last image".
The photograph was subsequently re-created in 2009 by John and Yoko's son Sean Lennon
is an American–British musician, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and half-brother to Julian Lennon. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, The ...
posing with his girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl
Charlotte Kemp Muhl (born August 17, 1987), also known as Kemp Muhl, is an American singer-songwriter, writer, model and film director from Atlanta, Georgia. She is best known as a model for Maybelline.
Muhl has been in a relationship with Sea ...
, with male/female roles reversed (Sean clothed, Kemp naked), and by Henry Bond
Henry Bond, FHEA (born 13 June 1966) is an English writer, photographer, and visual artist. In his ''Lacan at the Scene'' (2009), Bond made contributions to theoretical psychoanalysis and forensics.
In 1990, with Sarah Lucas, Bond organised ...
and Sam Taylor-Wood
Samantha Louise Taylor-Johnson OBE ( née Taylor-Wood; 4 March 1967) is a British filmmaker and photographer. Her directorial feature film debut was 2009's '' Nowhere Boy'', a film based on the childhood experiences of The Beatles songwriter ...
in their YBA pastiche October 26, 1993
''26 October 1993'' is an artwork created in 1993 as a collaboration between English artists Henry Bond and Sam Taylor-Wood, both of whom were involved in the Young British Artists scene of contemporary art. It is a pastiche or remaking of a ...
.
1980–2000
Leibovitz's new style of lighting and use of bold colors and poses got her a position with '' Vanity Fair'' magazine in 1983.
Leibovitz photographed celebrities for an international advertising campaign for American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
charge card
A charge card is a type of credit card that enables the cardholder to make purchases which are paid for by the card issuer, to whom the cardholder becomes indebted. The cardholder is obligated to repay the debt to the card issuer in full by the ...
s, 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. That same year, Leibovitz was also made Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Also in 1991, Leibovitz emulated Margaret Bourke-White
Margaret Bourke-White (; June 14, 1904 – August 27, 1971), an American photographer and documentary photographer, became arguably best known as the first foreign photographer permitted to take pictures of Soviet industry under the Soviets' ...
's feat by mounting one of the eagle gargoyles on the 61st floor of the Chrysler Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...
in Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, where she photographed the dancer David Parsons cavorting on another eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
gargoyle. Noted ''Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'' photographer and picture editor John Loengard
John Borg Loengard (September 5, 1934 – May 24, 2020) was an American photographer who worked at ''Life'' magazine from 1961, and was its picture editor from 1973 to 1987. He taught at the International Center of Photography, New York, The N ...
made a gripping photo of Leibovitz at the climax of her danger (Loengard was photographing Leibovitz for ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' that day).
In 1998, Leibovitz began to work regularly for ''Vogue''.
2000–present
Brooklyn Museum retrospective
In 2007, a major retrospective
A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...
of Leibovitz's work was held at the Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...
. The retrospective was based on her book, ''Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990–2005'' and included many of her professional (celebrity) photographs and numerous personal photographs of her family, children, and partner Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...
. This show, which was expanded to include three official portraits of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
, then went on the road for seven stops. It was on display at the Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University.
Overview
The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...
in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, from October 2007 to January 2008 and at the Palace of the Legion of Honor
The Legion of Honor, formally known as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, is an art museum in San Francisco, California. Located in Lincoln Park, the Legion of Honor is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which al ...
in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
from March 2008 to May 2008. In February 2009, the exhibition was moved to Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The show included 200 photographs. This exhibition and her talk focused on her personal photographs and life.
Other work
* In 2007, The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
hired her to do a series of photographs with celebrities in various roles and scenes for the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Inc., formerly Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and informally known as Disney Parks, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on Apri ...
"Year of a Million Dreams
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Inc., formerly Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and informally known as Disney Parks, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on Apri ...
" campaign.
*In 2011, Leibovitz was nominated alongside Singaporean
Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay, Ind ...
photographer Dominic Khoo and Wing Shya for Asia Pacific Photographer of the Year.
*In October 2011, Leibovitz had an exhibit in Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. In an interview with Rossiya 24, she explained her photography style.
*In 2014, Leibovtiz did a shoot of Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, and their daughter North West for an article in ''Vanity Fair''.
*In the same year, the New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum ...
mounted an exhibit of Leibovitz's work, based on her 2011 book, ''Pilgrimages''.
*From January 2016 to February 2017, WOMEN: New Portraits, commissioned by UBS
UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...
and reflecting the changing roles of women, was shown in 10 cities worldwide.
*In 2017, Leibovitz announced the release of an online photography class entitled "Annie Leibovitz Teaches Photography".
*In January 2018, Leibovitz's cover photo for ''Vanity Fair'' was criticized online for image manipulation that appeared to show actress Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...
with three legs.
*February–April 2019: "Annie Leibovitz. The Early Years, 1970-1983: Archive Project No. 1" at Hauser & Wirth
Hauser & Wirth is a Swiss contemporary and modern art gallery.
History
Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth, and Ursula Hauser, who were joined in 2000 by co-president Marc Payot. In 2020, Ewan Venters was ap ...
Gallery, Los Angeles
Pirelli calendar
In 2015, Leibovitz was the principal photographer for the 2016 Pirelli calendar
The Pirelli Calendar, known and trade-marked as "The Cal", is an annual trade calendar which has been published by the UK subsidiary of the Italian tyre manufacturing company Pirelli since 1964. The calendar has a reputation for its choice of ...
. Leibovitz took a drastic shift from the calendar traditional style by focusing on admirable women as opposed to sexuality. The calendar included Amy Schumer
Amy Beth Schumer (born June 1, 1981) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She ventured into comedy in the early 2000s before appearing as a contestant on the fifth season of the NBC reality competition series ''Last Comic Standing'' ...
, Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
, and Patti Smith. Leibovitz had previously worked on the 2000 calendar.
Controversies
Queen Elizabeth II photoshoot
In 2007, the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. This was filmed for the
...