1999 Exhibition Year

Annie Leibovitz:
Women

10/27/1999 to 4/3/2000

Women, a special exhibition of photographs by Annie Leibovitz, featured more than 70 portraits by the internationally renowned photographer. The exhibition, which is a celebration of American women at the end of the millennium, includes portraits from a broad spectrum of society: an astronaut, farmers, scientists, artists, musicians, show girls, actresses, writers, athletes and political figures. Women who are well known—including Hillary Rodham Clinton, Katharine Graham, Gloria Steinem, Louise Bourgeois, Toni Morrison, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg appear alongside women who are not usually singled out.

These photographs are intended to show “how we look and what we do,” says Annie Leibovitz, and they create a vivid and striking collective portrait of women today. “I’m very moved by the sense of dignity these women have,” says Leibovitz.

The presentation was drawn from photographs in Women, a book to be published by Random House in the Fall 1999. Women contains more than 100 of Leibovitz’s portraits as well as an essay by the novelist and critic Susan Sontag. To coincide with the publication of the book, Vogue magazine is featuring a portfolio of the photographs in a special November 1999 issue entitled Women of the Twentieth Century.”

Annie Leibovitz’s powerful portraits have been appearing on magazine covers for more than 25 years, and she has become one of the most celebrated photographers of our time. Starting with her legendary work for Rolling Stone, and continuing through her long-time affiliation with Condé Nast, she has established herself as an astute observer of American popular culture. In addition to her magazine work, Leibovitz has accepted many commissions. She was the official portrait photographer for the World Cup Games in Mexico in 1985, and created prize-winning advertising campaigns for American Express and The Gap. She documented the creation of the White Oak Dance Project for Mikhail Baryshnikov and has worked with many other artistic organizations, including the American Ballet Theatre and the Mark Morris Dance Group. During the siege of Sarajevo, Leibovitz visited the city and made a series of portraits that were exhibited in 1993 at the Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1995, she was commissioned to create the official portfolio for the 26th Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.