Annie Leibovitz in Washington Tuesday guiding a press tour of her new Smithsonian exhibit &39;Pilgrimage.&39; (Blade photo by Michael Key)
The result of her almost exclusively cross country odyssey (there was a brief trip to London) is Pilgrimage the book, as well as Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage, a photographic exhibition of 64 gorgeous and intriguing photos taken between April 2009 and May 2011 that currently fills three rooms on the second floor of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Its up through May 20.
While shed hoped for the book, Leibovitz didnt expect Pilgrimage to be shown at the Smithsonian.
Pilgrimage is Leibovitz first all-digital show, and though she professes a keen interest in new methods of photography (Youve got to keep up.), she likes to keep things looking real. Her photos are stylized, abstract and literal. Some shots (including an overhead look at Thoreaus bed), she describes as more documents than photographs.
Similarly, when the New York-based Leibovitz traveled to Concord, Mass., to check out Walden Pond and Henry David Thoreau, she discovered Ralph Waldo Emersons library and novelist Louisa May Alcotts carefully preserved home. In Amherst, Leibovitz dove into the life of Emily Dickinson (a Sontag vorite). The exhibit includes a tight shot of one of Dickinsons surviving dresses. Contrary to whats been said, the poet did not spend her last years roaming the house-shrouded specter. In ct, her garment of choice was an ornately embroidered white nightgown with alabaster buttons.
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At a Tuesday press event, an amiable and forthcoming Leibovitz (tall and trim in black turtleneck, black pants and hiking boots) leads a group of press types through the exhibition. Going into the project, Leibovitz didnt quite know what was going to happen, but thats when the magic happens, she says. An interest in the Lincoln Memorial became a broader investigation into Gettysburg, Lincolns boyhood homes and African-American contralto Miriam Anderson who mously sang on the steps of the Memorial in 1939 after being denied the right to perform at segregated Constitution Hall. The exhibition includes a haunting photo of one of Andersons gowns from the era.
Its wonderful. These rooms brief history of photographyare brimming with history. They could actually be photographed as part of the exhibition, she says. When I first came here I noticed the number of school children touring the gallery so I intentionally hung the show especially low and crowded the rooms with lots of photos and information something the exhibitions curator [Andy Grundberg ] isnt too happy about. I cant wait to watch the first big group of kids come through.
For history buff Leibovitz, visiting home museums, sifting through articts and being seduced by the past proved a real kick; but by no means has she abandoned the celebrity portrait work that made her a mous: I love my portrait work and did this other work to protect and fuel her nurture work. Im back in aPortal to the past big way.
Tagged withAmerican Art Museum,Annie Leibovitz,Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage,Homepage Special Feature,Mick Jagger,Miley Cyrus,Susan Sontag
Portal to the past,Throughout her 40-year career, renowned American photographer Annie Leibovitz has remained a constant on the celebrity portraiture scene photographing everyone from Mick Jagger to her late lover author Susan Sontag to Miley Cyrus. In many instances her creative, nontraditional approach to portraits has raised Leibovitzs already celebrated subjects to cultural icon status (think a naked-and-very-pregnant Demi Moore on the cover of Vanity Fair).
But despite bulous commercial and artistic success, Leibovitz, 62, went through a very public financial rough patch in recent years. It was during this time of duress that she opted to take a step back and pursue an unassigned, more personal project. In the tradition of great photographers like Walker Evans and Robert Frank, Leibovitz hit the road looking for inspiration and sources of renewal. In her travels, she was drawn to storied locales including Elvis Graceland and Georgia OKeefes New Mexico studio, and people of historical significance like Annie Oakley and Martha Graham stars from the past. And though she didnt photograph any people for the project, she did shoot objects, landscapes and interiors connected to their lives and memories.
What shed most like people to take from the exhibition, says Leibovitz, is for everyone to realize that its a big country out there. Go ahead, hit the road and find places and things that inspire and mean something to you.
The project took Leibovitz west to shoot Annie Oakleys riding boots and a bullet pierced heart-shaped target from the cowgirls Wild West Show. In England, Leibovitz made beautiful photos of Freuds couch and the suce of Virginia Woolfs grubby, ink-stained writing desk. And closer to home, she shot a peek into Val-Kill, Eleanor Roosevelts modest girls-only retreat in the Hudson Valley.
