Annie Leibovitz Biography and Artwork

born Westport, CT (USA) 1947

Annie Leibovitz was born in Westport, Connecticut in 1947. While a student, she went to a kibbutz and an architectural dig at King Solomon's temple in Israel in 1969, and in 1970 had her first photographs published by the magazine "Rolling Stone". After graduating from San Francisco Art Institute with her BFA in 1971 she became the magazine's principal photographer in 1973, staying with them for the next 10 years.

Her main influences, especially from her time at college, were photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank. She also studied with Ralph Gibson. Several pictures from her early years are on the page at Photography Temple.

In 1975 she photographed the Rolling Stones on tour, becoming the official photographer and more for their world tour. "Montauk Life" has a fascinating feature about the times. The Stones classic "The Memory Motel" commemorates a bar of that name in Montauk, and the "Hannah honey" that Mick Jagger was pining after in the song was, according to the feature, photographer Leibovitz herself.

The main subject of the Montauk feature is another of Liebowitz's employers, Andy Warhol who used her photography in his "Interview" magazine. Apparently she was not Warhol's first choice. Hollywood photographer Christie Jenkins, who supposedly started the women's market in publishing with her best seller "BUNS: A Woman Looks at Men's" turned down Warhol's offer to photograph for "Interview", and he turned to Leibovitz instead.

John Lennon's death in 1980 provided a tragic boost for Leibovitz. Only shortly before, she had made her now famous picture of a naked Lennon hugging his wife Yoko Ono It was the last picture before the murder. It stands out from the other images of the couple on the web page both by its colour and the concept.

In 1983, Leibovitz became the first contributing photographer to "Vanity Fair", producing many fine portraits for the magazine over the years. 1983 also saw her first one-person show and her first book, "Annie Leibovitz: Photographs." The following year she was named "Photographer of the Year" by the American Society of Magazine Photographers 1985 saw her photographing the World Cup Games in Mexico.

In 1987 she produced the "Portraits" campaign for American Express, which gained her not only the 1988 Clio Award for a US National print campaign, but also the Campaign of the Decade Award from Advertising Age (1987). In 1990 she opened the Annie Leibovitz Studio in New York City and also received the Infinity Award for applied photography from the International Center for Photography. Many photographers have assisted her and worked at the Studio.

Jennifer Loomis was fortunate enough to be recommended when the studio got fed up with requests to photograph pregnant women after the success of Liebowitz's porrait of Demi Moore. It was the start of an interesting project for Loomis. Leibovitz became one of only two living photographers to have an exhibition of her work at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, in 1991, with "Annie Leibovitz, Photographs 1970-1990".

In 1995 she was official photographer for the Atlanta Olympics. In 1999 she was made a member of the Art Directors Club "Hall of Fame".

Select Timeline

• 1947 - Born in Westport, Connecticut on October 2nd
• 1969 - Lived on a kibbutz in Israel, took part in an archeological dig at King Solomon's temple
• 1970 - Began shooting for Rolling Stone magazine. Her first assignment was Grace Slick
• 1971 - Received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute
• 1973 - Became chief photographer for Rolling Stone magazine
• 1975 - Commissioned by the Rolling Stones to document their world tour
• 1983 - Became first contributing photographer for Vanity Fair magazine
• 1983 - First solo exhibition shown
• 1983 - First book, "Annie Leibovitz: Photographs," is published
• 1984 - Named "Photographer of the Year" by the American Society of Magazine Photographers
• 1985 - Commissioned as the official portrait photographer for the World Cup Games in Mexico
• 1987 - Created the popular "portraits" campaign for American Express, for which she won the Clio Award and the Campaign of the Decade Award from Advertising Age magazine
• 1987 - Received the American Society of Magazine Photographers "Innovation in Photography" award
• 1990 - Founded the Annie Leibovitz Studio in New York City
• 1990 - Received the Infinity Award for applied photography from the International Center for Photography
• 1990 - Documented the creation of the White Oak Dance Project for Mikhail Baryshnikov
• 1999 - Inducted into the Art Directors Club hall of fame

Select Exhibitions

Select Artwork

• John Lennon, nude, hugging a clothed Yoko Ono, taken in 1980 the morning before Lennon's death.
• Demi Moore, nude with a suit painted on her body.
• 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.

Quotes

• "A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people."
• "As you get older, you have different tools, and you learn to use photography differently."
• "At my Rolling Stones' tour, the camera was a protection. I used it in a Zen way."
• "Coming tight was boring to me, just the face... it didn't have enough information."
• "I am impressed with what happens when someone stays in the same place and you took the same picture over and over and it would be different, every single frame."
• "I don't think there is anything wrong with white space. I don't think it's a problem to have a blank wall."
• "I love to spend time in the woods near my home in upstate New York. They never fail to evoke an emotional response in me. The lines of the horizon, the gentle curve of the trees."
• "When I was younger I did things with a camera I would not do by myself. I went down to the docks in San Francisco and asked a fisherman if he would take me out on his boat. I would never do that without a camera."
• "When you are on assignment, film is the least expensive thing in a very practical sense. Your time, the person's time, turns out to be the most valuable thing."
• "With the vice president, I basically said I'd like to spend a little time in his office, and here, and there, doing the pictures in a rougher style rather than a set-up style."
• "You're not there in the room talking to someone about something else while you're really trying to take their picture. When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I'd like to know them. Anyone I know I photograph."
• "What I learned from Lennon was something that did stay with me my whole career, which is to be very straightforward. I actually love talking about taking pictures, and I think that helps everyone."

Publications

• Annie Leibovitz (1993)Starring: Annie Leibovitz - DVD Image Entertainment 2001
• A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005 - by Annie Leibovitz, Random House (October 3, 2006)
• Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens - DVD - CustomFlix
• Women - by Annie Leibovitz (Author), Susan Sontag,
• Annie Leibovitz: American Music - by Patti Smith, Rosanne Cash, Steve Earle, Mos Def, Ryan Adams, Beck, Annie Leibovitz (Photographer), Random House Trade Paperbacks; Reprint edition (November 9, 2004)

Quick Facts

• 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.

Keywords

Annie Leibovitz, Annie Leibovitz Artwork, Annie Leibovitz Biography, Annie Leibovitz art, Annie Leibovitz photograph, Annie Leibovitz rolling stones, Annie Leibovitz bio, Annie Leibovitz serigraph, Annie Leibovitz lithograph, Annie Leibovitz print, Annie Leibovitz poster, Annie Leibovitz exhibition, Annie Leibovitz gallery, Annie Leibovitz picture, Annie Leibovitz photo, Annie Leibovitz visual art, Annie Leibovitz modern art, Annie Leibovitz rolling stones, Annie Leibovitz black and white, Annie Leibovitz color, Annie Leibovitz art book, Annie Leibovitz exhibit, Annie Leibovitz artwork, Annie Leibovitz photography, Annie Leibovitz picture, Annie Leibovitz photographer , Annie Leibovitz printmaker, Annie Leibovitz visual art, Annie Leibovitz ink, Annie Leibovitz image, Annie Leibovitz painter, Annie Leibovitz work, Annie Leibovitz works, Annie Leibovitz screenprint, Annie Leibovitz publication, Annie Leibovitz work, Annie Leibovitz film,