Annie Leibovitz: A Photographers Life, 1990-2005, Signed by Annie Leibovitz
[Signed by Annie Leibovitz] Leibovitz, Annie. Annie Leibovitz: A Photographers Life, 1990-2005. First Edition. 2006. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. Book is inscribed on the half title page, “For Peter, with admiration, Annie Leibovitz, 2009.”
Most retrospective photography books are organized around a career. This one is anchored by a life. Covering the years 1990 to 2005, Annie Leibovitz’s chronicle interweaves the photographs that made her famous with images never intended for publication. Family milestones, the birth of her children, the decline and death of her parents, and the loss of her longtime partner, Susan Sontag, appear alongside the portraits, magazine assignments, and cultural events that defined her public career. Leibovitz has remarked that she is not a journalist, and this book makes clear what she means. Rather than striving for detachment, she embraces a distinctly personal point of view, allowing the private and professional spheres of her life to overlap until they become inseparable. The result is less a retrospective than a visual autobiography, revealing not only what Leibovitz photographed, but what she cared about.
“There are truly intelligent photographers who work in the studio, but it’s not for me. Richard Avedon’s genius was that he was a great communicator. He pulled thins out of his subjects. But I observe Avedon knew how to talk to people. What to talk to them about. As soon as you engage someone their face changes. They become animated. They forget about being photographed. Their minds become occupied and they look more interesting. But’ I’m so busy looking. I can’t talk. I never developed that gift.”
--Annie Leibovitz