In 1970, Leibovitz approached Jann Wenner, founding editor of Rolling Stone, which he’d recently launched & was operating out of San Francisco. Impressed with her portfolio, Wenner gave Leibovitz her first assignment: shoot John Lennon. Leibovitz’s black & white portrait of the Beatle graced the cover of the January 21, 1971 issue. 2 years later she was named Rolling Stone chief photographer. In 1980 Rolling Stone sent Leibovitz to photograph John Lennon & Yoko Ono, who had recently released their album Double Fantasy. For the portrait Leibovitz imagined that the pair would pose together nude. Lennon disrobed, but Ono refused to take off her pants. Leibovitz “was kinda disappointed,” according to Rolling Stone, & so she told Ono to leave her clothes on. “We took 1 Polaroid,” said Leibovitz, “& the 3 of us knew it was profound right away.” The resulting portrait shows Lennon nude & curled around a fully clothed Ono. Several hours later, Lennon was shot dead in front of his apartment. The photograph ran on the cover of the Rolling Stone Lennon commemorative issue. In 2005 the American Society of Magazine Editors named it the best magazine cover from the past 40 years.
Leibovitz has been made a Commandeur des Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government & has been designated a living legend by the Library of Congress. Her first museum show, Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970-1990, took place in 1991 at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. & toured internationally for 6 years. At the time she was only the second living portraitist & the only woman to be featured in an exhibition by the institution.
Sting by Annie Leibovitz
Leibovitz met writer Susan Sontag in 1989 while photographing the writer for her book AIDS & Its Metaphors. The 2 talents became lovers, but kept separate apartments. They were together until Sontag’s death at the end of 2004. Choosing the closet or not, my admiration for her work knows no bounds.
Sontag by Leibovitz
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