Annie Leibovitz

Anna-Lou Leibovitz (/ˈliːbəvɪts/ LEE-bə-vits; born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer best known for her portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, taken five hours before Lennon's murder, is considered one of Rolling Stone magazine's most famous cover photographs. The Library of Congress declared her a Living Legend, and she is the first woman to have a feature exhibition at Washington's National Portrait Gallery.

Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, 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 in the U.S. Air Force of Romanian-Jewish heritage and her mother was a modern dance 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 during the Vietnam War. Leibovitz's passion for art was born out of her mother's engagement with dance, music, and painting.

While attending Northwood High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, she became interested in various artistic endeavors and began to write and play music.

Leibovitz attended the San Francisco Art Institute, 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. 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.

For many years Leibovitz's camera of choice was a Mamiya RZ67. She also has used the following cameras:

• Hasselblad 500 C/M
• Minolta SRT-101
• Nikon D810
• Fuji 6×9 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 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.

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 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.

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. 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 album cover, a picture Leibovitz loved. 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.

Leibovitz was the last person to professionally photograph Lennon‍—‌he was shot and killed five hours later. A month or so later, Rolling Stone gave grieving music fans his "last image".

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), and by Henry Bond and Sam Taylor-Wood in their YBA pastiche on October 26, 1993.

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 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. 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'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 1998, Leibovitz began to work regularly for Vogue.

2000–present

Brooklyn Museum retrospective

In 2007, 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 and numerous personal photographs of her family, children, and partner Susan Sontag. This show, which was expanded to include three 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. 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 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.
• In 2011, Leibovitz was nominated alongside Singaporean photographer Dominic Khoo and Wing Shya for Asia Pacific Photographer of the Year.
• In October 2011, Leibovitz had an exhibit in Moscow. 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 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 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 with three legs.
• February–April 2019: "Annie Leibovitz. The Early Years, 1970–1983: Archive Project No. 1" at Hauser & Wirth Gallery, Los Angeles

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 calendar included Amy Schumer, Serena Williams, and Patti Smith. Leibovitz had previously worked on the 2000 calendar.

IKEA

In 2023, Leibovitz was commissioned by IKEA to "create a series of 25 portraits that illuminate the nuances of ‘life at home’."

Crystal Bridges: Annie Leibovitz at Work

Running from Sept. 16, 2023-Jan. 29, 2004, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art hosted "Annie Leibovitz at Work," an exhibition of more than 300 images encompassing more than 50 years of Leibovitz's career. Vogue magazine called the show "a sweeping retrospective of 300 photographs taken by Leibovitz throughout her illustrious career. The works on display range from celebrity portraiture to images from the pages of Vogue and Vanity Fair to indelible moments in history like the Apollo 17 launch and Watergate. In one room, a table piled high with photo books is paired with a set of cheeky Polaroid snaps of policemen who have ticketed Leibovitz over the years for driving too fast in her ’63 Porsche on California’s Highway 5. With the prints pinned up on the first two sections of gallery walls in a strikingly relaxed format, the show feels akin to a tour of her studio."

Controversies

Queen Elizabeth II photoshoot

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 incredulously to Leibovitz's suggestion ("less dressy") that she remove her tiara, stating "less dressy? What do you think this is?" This cut immediately to 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, not storming off from it like the BBC implied by presenting the scenes in that order. This led to a BBC scandal and a shake-up of ethics training. However, a 2015 article in The Times 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.

LeBron James / King Kong photoshoot

In 2008, Leibovitz choreographed a photoshoot featuring LeBron James and Gisele Bündchen that appeared on the cover of Vogue. The cover was the first time a black man appeared on Vogue. The cover drew controversy due to its depiction of James posing with his hand around Bündchen's waist, similar to that of a poster of King Kong holding onto Fay Wray. Jemele Hill and many others acknowledged the gorilla-like pose plays on racial stereotypes. Magazine analyst Samir Husni believed the photo to be deliberately provocative, adding on Today, "So when you have a cover that reminds people of King Kong and brings those stereotypes to the front, black man wanting white woman, it's not innocent". The Fashion Post magazine named it one of the most controversial Vogue magazine covers, ranking it number 3.

Miley Cyrus photoshoot

On April 25, 2008, Entertainment Tonight reported that 15-year-old Miley Cyrus had posed topless for a photo shoot with Vanity Fair. 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. 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. 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". 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.... The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful."

Children

Leibovitz has three daughters. She gave birth to her first, Sarah Cameron Leibovitz, in October 2001 when Leibovitz was 52 years old. Twin girls Susan and Samuelle were born to a surrogate mother in May 2005.

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. In 2006, Newsweek magazine 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." When Leibovitz was interviewed for her autobiography A Photographer's Life: 1990–2005, she said that the book told a number of stories, and "with Susan, it was a love story." While The New York Times in 2009 referred to Sontag as Leibovitz's "companion", Leibovitz wrote in A Photographer's Life: "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'." That same year, Leibovitz said the descriptor "lover" was accurate. 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."

Religion

When asked if being Jewish is important to her, Leibovitz replied, "I'm not a practicing Jew, but I feel very Jewish."

Financial troubles

In February 2009, Leibovitz borrowed US$15.5 million, after having experienced financial challenges, putting up several houses as well as the rights to all of her photographs as collateral. 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", 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.

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 W 11th Street. 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.

In July 2009, the Art Capital Group filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Leibovitz for US$24 million regarding repayment of these loans. In a follow-up article from 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. 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".

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 works and real estate. The following month, Brunswick Capital Partners sued Leibovitz, claiming it was owed several hundred thousand dollars for helping her restructure her debt. In December 2012, Leibovitz listed her West Village townhouse for sale at $33 million, stating she wanted to move closer to her daughter.

• In 1978 Leibovitz photographed the cover for Joan Armatrading's fifth studio album To the Limit, spending four days at her house capturing the images. Leibovitz also did the photography for Armatrading's live album, Steppin' Out.
• Sonia Braga was photographed for an American Express campaign in 1991.
• John Lennon and Yoko Ono for the January 22, 1981, Rolling Stone cover, taken the day Lennon was murdered. Leibovitz called it "the photograph of my life" and the photograph she would be remembered for.
• 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.
• 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.
• Marion Cotillard for the Autumn/Winter 2009 collection of the Lady Dior - Lady Rouge handbag campaign and for the November 2009 cover of Vogue with the cast of Nine.
• 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.
• Whoopi Goldberg lying in a bathtub full of milk, shot from above.
• Christo, fully wrapped so the viewer must take the artist's word that Christo is actually under the wrapping.
• 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.
• Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as The Blues Brothers, with their faces painted blue.
• Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson, both nude, with a fully clothed Tom Ford, for the cover of Vanity Fair's March 2006 Hollywood Issue.
• Knut with Leonardo DiCaprio, a 2007 Vanity Fair cover.
• 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.
• Jackie and Joan Collins in a limo, Los Angeles 1987.
• Sting, naked in the desert, covered in mud to blend in with the scenery.
• Closeup portrait of Pete Townshend framed by his bleeding hand dripping real blood down the side of his face.
• "Fire" portrait and caption "Patti Smith Catches Fire."
• Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual and True Colors album covers.
• Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A. and Tunnel of Love album covers.
• Gisele Bündchen and LeBron James on the April 2008 cover of Vogue America.
• Miley Cyrus's Vanity Fair photo in which the 15-year-old 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.
• Johnny Depp and Kate Moss at the Royalton Hotel, New York, in 1994. A nude Moss lying on a bed while fully clothed Depp is lying between her legs, covering her abdomen.
• Lance Armstrong riding his 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.
• Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and their daughter North for Vogue in 2014.
• 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 and the cast of Star Wars: The Last Jedi for Vanity Fair in 2017.
• Caitlyn Jenner for Vanity Fair in 2015.
• Mark Zuckerberg and his pregnant wife Priscilla Chan in 2015.
• 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.
• Serena Williams on the cover of Vanity Fair August 2017, while pregnant.
• Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Vogue during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

• 2018 Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Rhode Island School of Design
• 2016 International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum
• 2015 Paez Medal of Art from VAEA
• 2013 Prince of Asturias Award for Communication
• 2009 The Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography
• 2003 The Lucie Awards
• 1999 ADC Hall of Fame

• 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)
• Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2005–2016
• Annie Leibovitz, ed. by Riitta Raatikainen, publisher Helsinki City Art Museum, 1999 ISBN 9789518965407