Loving Leibovitz

Popularly known as the photographer of superb and elevated celebrity portraits-cum-magazine covers, Annie Leibovitz transforms the experience of browsing the newsstand for Condé Nast glossies into a striking aesthetic experience. At this very moment, the latest issue of Vogue bears a hotly contested cover featuring basketball player LeBron James (the first black man to appear on the magazine’s cover) alongside supercreature Gisele Bündchen. And there’s the April issue of Vanity Fair, which hosts a fetching group portrait of comedians Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman, and Amy Poehler. Leibovitz’ current exhibit, “Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life, 1990-2005,” which runs through May at the Legion of Honor, includes portraits of Demi Moore very much with a bun in the oven, renowned American cultural superstar George W. Bush in the White House, photojournalistic moments from the siege of Sarajevo, and an array of piercing personal photography of Leibovitz’s family and private life. Stationary grandeur of photography exhibits aside, the salient shutterbug takes on a considerably more animated, live-action role today by showing and discussing her work as the featured speaker at the 2007 Rowell Award for the Art of Adventure ceremony.
Wed., April 16, 7:30 p.m., 2008