Sunday 26 October 2008

Annie Leibovitz's Life picture series


Annie Leibovitz's exhibition A Photographer's Life, has now been showing for two week at the National Portrait Gallery in London, but it's still hard to get a ticket to see the photographs.

After two hours wait (I bought my tickets at 2pm, for the last showing of the day, at 4:30), I finally made it into the main hall of the exhibition.

Most pictures were in black and white, ranging from artistic shots of athletes to the famous pregnant and naked, Demi Moore (Vanity Fair cover, 1991).

Annie Leibovitz seems to like taking nudes. Her photos are extremely personal, sometimes intrusive but always striking. There is something almost voyeuristic about them.

Most of the exhibition is a simple and clear illustration of its title: it is a showcase of intimate moments, taken from the photographer's family and romantic life.

There is a side-gallery plastered with 6x4in shots: a retrospective of her life, ranging from holiday pictures in Paris, photographs of Leibovitz's daughter, her lover Susan Sontag in hospital after she had been diagnosed with leukaemia (she died in 2004), to pictures of her mother and father on a day out to the sea.

The exhibition is worth seeing but not for its fashion photography collection. The latest photographs showcased were taken in 2005, so there are none of her latest Vogue shoots or her Disney Dream Portrait Series.

1 comment:

ursula! said...

i love Annie Leibovitz Disney inspired photographs! I saw these images a few months ago and completely fell in love with them the snow white picture even influenced me when designing a dress for my sister.
Annie Leibovitz= genius
I agree with you that some of her pictures seem intrusive I love her personal take and her distinctive style shines through.