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Annie Leibovitz Exhibit Portrays Her 'Pilgrimage' Through American History

By Emily Frost | November 19, 2014 5:08pm
 A new exhibition of the portrait photographer's photos opens Friday at the New-York Historical Society.
Annie Leibovitz's New Exhibit Opens Friday
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UPPER WEST SIDE — For a photographer famous for her celebrity portraiture, the 78 still-life photos in Annie Leibovitz's new exhibit at the New-York Historical Society may seem like a departure from her oeuvre. 

But Leibovitz is quick to point out that's not the case. 

The photos — which offer glimpses into the lives of American heroes from Emily Dickinson to Ansel Adams through images of the homes, studios, clothing and the landscapes they traversed — echoes the kind of deep research that precedes her work, Leibovitz said. 

"This is really the note-taking on the way to a portrait," she said Wednesday while introducing the exhibit.

The photos, taken with a digital camera between April 2009 and May 2011, are in keeping with the behind-the-scenes studies she does of her subjects before taking a portrait. 

While exhibit-goers won't see any living faces among the collection, the presence of America's historical figures is evoked through Leibovitz's capturing of the context in which they worked and lived, said museum president Louise Mirrer.

"We see these as portraits of American history, though there are no people in them," Mirrer noted. 

From Pete Seeger's log cabin and Georgia O'Keeffe's studio to Elvis's Graceland, Leibovitz, who recently bought an apartment on the Upper West Side, traveled the country for the photos on display. She was shooting, not for any particular assignment, but by what moved her, she said. 

"This was really to see what would pull me in, what would interest me," said Leibovitz of her trip.

The exhibit is set up to feel like an emotional journey, with photos grouped on the walls without any explanatory text, she explained. Leibovitz leans in close to capture the intricate details of Emily Dickinson's only surviving dress, or the hat Abraham Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated.

"I found myself falling into these dark holes," she said of delving into the lives of historical figures by visiting their homes.

"I was mesmerized by it," Leibovitz noted of Dickinson's dress.

The exhibit also explores the life of fellow photographers and artists, experiences in which Leibovitz said she was surprisingly moved.

"At art school, Ansel [Adams] was too straight for us," she said of her trip to his studio and Yosemite to pay homage to his iconic photos with her own versions. "You get older and you start to embrace him."

"Pilgrimage" opens Nov. 21, 2014, and runs through Feb. 22, 2015.