Photographer
b. October 2, 1949
A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people.
A master chronicler of popular culture for over 25 years, Annie Leibovitz came to international acclaim as the chief photographer for Rolling Stone Magazine. She quickly became a highly sought after portrait photographer.
Born Anna-Lou Leibovitz in Westbury Connecticut, she moved frequently as a child because her father was an Air Force Lieutenant. While Leibovitz's early interests were music and painting, she did not discover her lifelong passion in photography until college.
Leibovitz began her first assignment with Rolling Stone Magazine in 1970, shortly before graduating from college. In addition to "Rolling Stone," Leibovitz's work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, Life Magazine, TIME Magazine, Esquire, Vogue and Vanity Fair. In 1991, she became the first woman exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Breaking all rules of conventional portrait photography, Leibovitz moves beyond the subject's face to capture the character as a whole. Her provocative poses reveal a level of intimacy unseen in conventional portraits. Leibovitz's most notable photograph of John Lennon lying naked with Yoko Ono demonstrates this unique style. During her career Leibovitz has photographed more celebrities than any other photographer.
In a 2004 interview with Newsweek, Leibovitz first recognized her 15-year romantic relationship with writer and critic Susan Sontag. Though the couple never lived together, their apartments were in view of each other. Intimate photos of Sontag, including those taken during her losing battle to cancer, are revealed in Leibovitz's book, "A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005."
In 2001, at the age of 52, Leibovitz gave birth to her first child, Sarah Leibovitz. Her twins, Susan (named after Sontag) and Samuel, were born to a surrogate mother in 2005. She continues to capture the human spirit through her intimate and poignant portraits.
Bibliography
“Annie Leibovitz Biography (1949-).” Biography. June 29, 2007
Annie Leibovitz. Dir. Rebecca Frayn. Image Entertainment. 1993
Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens. Dir. Barbara Leibovitz. Adirondack Pictures. 2006
McGuigan, Cathleen. “Through Her Lens.” Newsweek. Oct. 2, 2006
Somerstein, Rachel. “Annie Leibovitz.” PBS: American Masters. June 29, 2007
Selected Works
A Photographer’s Life: 1990–2005 (2006)
Dancers (Photographers at Work) (1992)
Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970-1990 (1991)
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