Leibovitz was a student in the 1970s when her photos were published for the first time: pictures of Vietnam War protesters in Israel, taken on assignment forRolling Stone, one of which landed on the cover. Since then, she has captured film stars, politicians, athletes, royalty and artists for features and cover stories in other major publications, includingVanity Fair,Vogue andTime.
Born inWaterbury, Connecticut, on October 2, 1949,[3] Anna-Lou Leibovitz is the third of six children of Marilyn Edith (née Heit) and Samuel Leibovitz.[4] She is a third-generation American. Her father was alieutenant colonel in theU.S. Air Force ofRomanian-Jewish heritage[4] and her mother was amodern dance instructor ofEstonian-Jewish heritage. Her love for photography began at a young age when her father gave her a camera. The family moved frequently with her father's duty assignments, and she took her first pictures when he was stationed in thePhilippines during theVietnam War.[5][6] After her family's return from the Philippines, she attended the San Francisco Art Institute, where she studied painting and photography. Leibovitz's passion for art was born out of her mother's engagement with dance, music, and painting.[6]
Leibovitz attended theSan Francisco Art Institute,[7] where she studied painting with the intention of becoming an art teacher.[6] At school, she had her first photography workshop and changed her major to photography. She was inspired by the work ofRobert Frank andHenri Cartier-Bresson.[8] For several years, she continued to develop her photography skills while holding various jobs, including astint on a kibbutz inAmir, Israel, for several months in 1969.[9]Leibovitz attended the San Francisco Art Institute from 1967 until 1971. By the time Leibovitz received her bachelor of fine arts degree in 1971, her photographs of Israel and a picture of the poet Allen Ginsberg at a San Francisco peace march had already landed her a job at the music magazineRolling Stone.
When Leibovitz returned to the United States in 1970, she started her career as staff photographer forRolling Stone magazine. In 1973, publisherJann Wenner named Leibovitz chief photographer ofRolling Stone, a job she would hold for 10 years. Leibovitz worked for the magazine until 1983, and her intimate photographs of celebrities helped define theRolling Stone look.[9]
While working forRolling 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."[13]
Leibovitz photographedthe Rolling Stones in San Francisco in 1971 and 1972, and served as the concert-tour photographer forthe Rolling Stones' Tour of the Americas '75. Her favorite photo from the tour was a photo ofMick Jagger in an elevator.[14] The mid-1970s brought Leibovitz an increasing amount of notoriety and its concomitant tribulations. In 1975, the Rolling Stones invited Leibovitz to document their six-month concert tour. Living in the world of her subjects, her camera did not shield Leibovitz from the rock 'n' roll life-style. She began using cocaine on tour and struggled for years afterward to recover.
On December 8, 1980, Leibovitz had a photo shoot withJohn Lennon forRolling Stone, and she promised him he would make the cover. She had initially tried to get a picture with just Lennon alone, asRolling Stone wanted, but Lennon insisted that both he andYoko Ono be on the cover. Leibovitz then tried to re-create something like the kissing scene from the couple'sDouble Fantasy album cover, a picture Leibovitz loved. She had Lennon remove his clothes and curl up next to Ono 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.[15]
Leibovitz was the last person to professionally photograph Lennon—he wasshot and killed five hours later. About a month later,Rolling Stone gave grieving music fans his "last image".
The photograph was subsequently re-created in 2009 by the couple's sonSean Lennon posing with his girlfriendCharlotte Kemp Muhl, with male/female roles reversed (Lennon clothed, Kemp naked),[16] and byHenry Bond andSam Taylor-Wood in theirYBA pastiche on October 26, 1993.
In 1991, Leibovitz mounted an exhibition at theNational Portrait Gallery. She was the second living portraitist and first woman to show there.[20][21] That same year, Leibovitz was also madeCommandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.[20] Also in 1991, Leibovitz emulatedMargaret Bourke-White's feat by mounting one of the eaglegargoyles on the 61st floor of theChrysler Building inManhattan, where she photographed the dancer David Parsons cavorting on anothereagle gargoyle. NotedLife photographer and picture editorJohn Loengard made a gripping photo of Leibovitz at the climax of her danger (Loengard was photographing Leibovitz forThe New York Times that day).[22]
In 1994, Leibovitz photographedCarl Lewis forPirelli's famousPower Is Nothing Without Control ad campaign. The most well-known advertisement featured Lewis crouched in a sprinting position sporting bright red stilettos.[23]
In 1998, Leibovitz began to work regularly forVogue.[18]
In 2007, a majorretrospective of Leibovitz's work was held at theBrooklyn Museum.[24] 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 partnerSusan Sontag. This show, which was expanded to include three official portraits ofQueen Elizabeth II, then went on the road for seven stops. It was on display at theCorcoran Gallery of Art inWashington, D.C., from October 2007 to January 2008 and at thePalace of the Legion of Honor inSan Francisco from March 2008 to May 2008. In February 2009, the exhibition was moved toBerlin, Germany.[25][26] The show included 200 photographs.[27] This exhibition and her talk focused on her personal photographs and life.[28]
In the same year, theNew-York Historical Society mounted an exhibit of Leibovitz's work, based on her 2011 book,Pilgrimages.[37]
From January 2016 to February 2017, WOMEN: New Portraits, commissioned byUBS and reflecting the changing roles of women, was shown in 10 cities worldwide.[38]
In 2017, Leibovitz announced the release of an online photography class entitled "Annie Leibovitz Teaches Photography".[39]
In January 2018, Leibovitz's cover photo forVanity Fair was criticized online for image manipulation that appeared to show actressReese Witherspoon with three legs.[40][41]
February–April 2019: "Annie Leibovitz. The Early Years, 1970–1983: Archive Project No. 1" atHauser & Wirth Gallery, Los Angeles[42]
In 2025, Leibovitz produced several portraits for the television seriesThe Chosen.[43]
In 2015, Leibovitz was the principal photographer for the 2016Pirelli calendar. Leibovitz took a drastic shift from the calendar traditional style by focusing on admirable women as opposed to sexuality. The calendar includedAmy Schumer,Serena Williams, andPatti Smith. Leibovitz had previously worked on the 2000 calendar.[44]
Running from Sept. 16, 2023-Jan. 29, 2024, theCrystal 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."[46]
In 2007, theBBC misrepresented Leibovitz's portrait shooting ofQueen Elizabeth II to take the Queen's official picture for herstate visit toVirginia. This was filmed for theBBC documentaryA Year with the Queen. A promotional trailer for the film showed the Queen reacting incredulously to Leibovitz's suggestion ("less dressy") that she remove hertiara, 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."[47] 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.[48] This led to a BBC scandal and a shake-up of ethics training. However, a 2015 article inThe 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.[49]
In 2008, Leibovitz choreographed a photoshoot featuringLeBron James andGisele Bündchen that appeared on the cover ofVogue. The cover was the first time a black man appeared onVogue. The cover drew controversy due to its depiction of James posing with his hand around Bündchen's waist, similar to that of a poster ofKing Kong holding ontoFay Wray. People includingJemele Hill said the gorilla-like pose played on racial stereotypes.[50] Magazine analystSamir Husni believed the photo to be deliberately provocative, adding onToday, "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".[51]The Fashion Post magazine ranked it the third-most controversialVogue magazine cover.[52]
On April 25, 2008,Entertainment Tonight reported that 15-year-oldMiley Cyrus had posed topless for a photo shoot withVanity Fair.[53][54] 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.[55] The full photograph was published with an accompanying story onThe 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.[56] Some parents expressed outrage at the nature of the photograph, which aDisney spokesperson described as "a situation [that] was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines".[56] 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."[56] 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."[56][57]
Leibovitz has three daughters. She gave birth to her first, Sarah Cameron Leibovitz, in October 2001 when Leibovitz was 52 years old.[58] Twin girls Susan and Samuelle were born by asurrogate in May 2005.[59]
Leibovitz had a close relationship with writer and essayistSusan 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."[60] When Leibovitz was interviewed for her autobiographyA Photographer's Life: 1990–2005, she said that the book told a number of stories, and "with Susan, it was a love story."[61] WhileThe New York Times in 2009 referred to Sontag as Leibovitz's "companion",[62] Leibovitz wrote inA 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'."[63] That same year, Leibovitz said the descriptor "lover" was accurate.[64] 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."[59]
In February 2009, Leibovitz borrowedUS$15.5million, after having experienced financial challenges,[65] putting up several houses as well as the rights to all of her photographs ascollateral.[66][67]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",[65] and that, despite aUS$50million 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.[62]
The Greenwich Village properties, at 755–757 Greenwich Street, are part of theGreenwich Village Historic District, and thus theNew 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.[68] Due to pressure from theGreenwich 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.[69]
In July 2009, the Art Capital Group filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Leibovitz forUS$24million regarding repayment of these loans.[70] In a follow-up article from September 5, 2009, anAssociated Press story quoted legal experts as saying that filing forbankruptcy reorganization might offer Leibovitz her best chance to control and direct the disposition of her assets to satisfy debts.[71] On September 11, Art Capital Group withdrew its lawsuit against Leibovitz and extended the due date for repayment of theUS$24million 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".[72]
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.[73] The following month, Brunswick Capital Partners sued Leibovitz, claiming it was owed several hundred thousand dollars for helping her restructure her debt.[74] In December 2012, Leibovitz listed herWest Village townhouse for sale at $33 million, stating she wanted to move closer to her daughter.[75]
Leibovitz in front of herMore Demi MooreVanity Fair cover photo, 2008
In 1978 Leibovitz photographed the cover forJoan Armatrading's fifth studio albumTo the Limit, spending four days at her house capturing the images.[76] Leibovitz also did the photography for Armatrading's live album,Steppin' Out.[77]
John Lennon andYoko Ono for the January 22, 1981,Rolling Stone cover, taken the day Lennon was murdered.[79][80] Leibovitz called it "the photograph of my life" and the photograph she would be remembered for.[81]
Prisoners atSoledad 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 forRolling Stone magazine.[82]
Demi Moore has been the subject of two highly publicizedVanity Fair covers taken by Leibovitz:More Demi Moore (Aug. 1991) featuring Moore pregnant and nude, andDemi's Birthday Suit (Aug 1992), showing Moore nude with a suit painted on her body.[83]
Christo, fully wrapped so the viewer must take the artist's word that Christo is actually under the wrapping.[87][88]
David Cassidy on theRolling Stone cover depicting him naked from his head to his waist.
Dolly Parton vamping for the camera whileArnold Schwarzenegger flexes his biceps behind her, featured in an August 25, 1977,Rolling Stone photo spread.[89]
Miley Cyrus'sVanity Fair photo in which the 15-year-old star appeared semi-nude, leading to a controversy.
Michael Jackson twice for the cover ofVanity Fair magazine, including other additional photographs of him that were not featured on the cover of the magazine.
Johnny Depp andKate 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 inVanity Fair's 1999 December issue.[106]
2009:The Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography[119]
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)
^ab"Annie Leibovitz Career Timeline".American Masters. WNET. January 3, 2007. RetrievedFebruary 2, 2014.1964: Attends Northwood High School in Silver Spring, Maryland
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Media related toAnnie Leibovitz at Wikimedia Commons
