Annie Leibovitz: The Early Years, 1970 – 1983, Archive Project No. 1 and Wonderland
A walk-through of Annie Leibovitz’s show at Hauser & Wirth (Hong Kong). The show is a comprehensive exhibition of photographic prints selected by the artist from her early years seen alongside selected iconic fashion images from the past two decades. Leibovitz’s prolific output, and her inventive approach to photography itself, position her distinctly within the traditions and trajectory of American portraiture during the twentieth century.
These rarely seen images from Leibovitz’s early years trace the photographer’s development from the start of her career, capturing the dramatic cultural and political shifts of the 70s and early 80s. During these years, Leibovitz became an avatar of the changing cultural role of photography as an artistic medium.
The exhibition begins with photographs taken during this formative time in Northern California and is punctuated by images of the Bay Area landscape and photographs shot during drives Leibovitz often took between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The display of works taken during her thirteen-year tenure at ‘Rolling Stone’ blurred the lines between celebrity and civilian, interviewer and interviewee, artist and subject, dissolving the boundary separating Leibovitz from her subjects.
The exhibition continues on the lower floor of the gallery, with photographic prints selected by the artist from her acclaimed body of work made over the past two decades, including key images from Leibovitz’s first couture shoot in Paris for ‘Vogue,’ which featured Kate Moss and Sean Combs in a visual narrative that straddled two dramatic worlds: rap culture and high fashion. In scenes from another ambitious shoot for ‘Vogue,’ Leibovitz paid homage to ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ This series positions Leibovitz distinctly within a specific lineage of formal portraiture in which artists’ sitters have assumed historical or literary personae and dressed in costume, hinting at unseen aspects of their identities, or reflecting upon their societal contexts.
Date: 6 Jan. to 12 Feb. 2022
Hauser & Wirth (Hong Kong)