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Annie Leibovitz, photographer of stars, faces ruin
Breitbart ^ | August 23, 2009 | unk

Posted on 08/23/2009 9:09:22 AM PDT by OldCorps

Annie Leibovitz is as famous as the people she photographs but now the genius behind the lens is close to financial ruin -- a victim, some say, of her own relentless artistic ambition. Among the qualities making Leibovitz, 59, the most sought after portrait photographer in the world are legendary perfectionism and the pouring of resources into lavish sets. Over the course of her long career, nothing has been too extreme in Leibovitz's pursuit of the perfect picture. She put former action icon and current California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on top of a mountain, submerged black actress Whoopi Goldberg in a bath of milk and closed France's Versailles palace to shoot Kirsten Dunst posing as Marie-Antoinette. Circus animals, fire, airplanes -- she was rarely denied a requested prop, however seemingly outrageous.

A debt is due September 8 and if she can't pay up, she could lose her life's work. ACG, which specializes in making loans to owners of high value art works, is unlikely to adopt a soft line. Leibovitz must "comply with the sales agreement she signed authorizing Art Capital to sell the fine art and real estate assets and to pay the invoices that are due," ACG spokesman Montieth Illingworth said in a statement. The over-leveraged photographer not only risks losing her photo archives, which The New York Times estimates could be worth 50 million dollars, but also her house in the trendy Greenwich Village district of Manhattan and a second home outside the city. If she is forced to declare bankruptcy, it will then be up to the courts to decide how to distribute the assets. Banking giant Goldman Sachs entered the fray this week with a claim to own part of Leibovitz's debt. ACG disputes that, but says Goldman Sachs could ...

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: art; celebrity; clueless; hippie; leftists; millionaires
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To: Maverick68

Anyone making a movie about a real artist with real talent, like Norman Rockwell?


101 posted on 08/24/2009 8:38:05 AM PDT by EyeGuy
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To: wardaddy
FR is not sympathetic to the suffering of the rich....lib or not. I always found that odd for a conservative site...I thought everybody here believed in the right to try to get rich so why deny rich folks some empathy?

I also thought Sinatra was a slime for being a woman beater; but it didn't stop me from enjoying his music when I heard it on the radio.

As for Annie Leibowitz, I admired her for her technical ability and her survival in what had been a man's field exclusively; but she messed up big time. Now it's even more sad than before for her little lesbian family -- a turkey baster daughter aged 8 and surrogate twins age 4. She is 59, and the kids already have no father, no grandparents and no "other mother"; and now the one parent they have is on the ropes.

102 posted on 08/24/2009 8:42:11 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("A cultural problem cannot be solved with a political solution." -- Selwyn Duke)
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To: Maverick68

Nope, it is the capturing of an image with a mechanical device.
_____

and music is simply the mechanics of creating sound waves. That one is able to boil something down to such a bare essence hardly means that you’ve captured its essence.


103 posted on 08/24/2009 8:49:06 AM PDT by dmz
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To: OldCorps

Olan Mills is hiring.


104 posted on 08/24/2009 8:52:47 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: dmz

EXACTLY!
Which is why I wouldn’t consider music as “art”, rather I consider it “music”.
Hey, it’s my opinion, and until they pass the new ArtCare Bill, I’m entitled to it (same as everyone here...for now...)


105 posted on 08/24/2009 8:56:22 AM PDT by Maverick68 (w)
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To: dmz; Maverick68
You deserve to be flamed for such a ridiculous comment.

It's the sort of comment commonly made by those who cannot match another's achievements.

Regardless of other factors, Ms. Leibovitz has created some memorable and impressive art with her camera.

106 posted on 08/24/2009 9:01:14 AM PDT by TChris (There is no freedom without the possibility of failure.)
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To: TChris

And yours is the sort of comment generally made by a pretentious ass who knows nothing about the person making a comment that obviously hit some sort of sore spot with you...
I don’t consider photography “art”. That is my opinion. Apparently the Left doesn’t have the market cornered on dis-respect for others opinions.
If you are so insecure that you feel the need to attack someone personally over their opinion, it’s a reflection of you and your insecurities...


107 posted on 08/24/2009 9:06:56 AM PDT by Maverick68 (w)
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To: Maverick68

Seriously, I’m through with this topic.
Apparently I’ve offended some hobbyists on this site.
I recant: “Photography is among the highest forms of art! I renounce my previous stance!”
Geeeeezzzz......


108 posted on 08/24/2009 9:08:43 AM PDT by Maverick68 (w)
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To: Maverick68
And yours is the sort of comment generally made by a pretentious ass who knows nothing about the person making a comment that obviously hit some sort of sore spot with you...

Not only me, but anyone else who appreciates the art of photography and has actually created some. You simply don't know what you're talking about.

I don't need to know anything about you to know that you're wrong. K?

I don’t consider photography “art”. That is my opinion.

It's my opinion, as a photographer, that you're wrong. Probably ignorant on the subject as well, considering that you seem to regard the click of the shutter release as the sum total of what it means to create a photograph.

Apparently the Left doesn’t have the market cornered on dis-respect for others opinions.

Is that like disrespecting the obvious talent and difficulty involved with creating great photographs? Is that the sort of disrespect you mean?

If you are so insecure that you feel the need to attack someone personally over their opinion, it’s a reflection of you and your insecurities...

No insecurity here. I'm simply responding to the snide attack you first made against photography as art.

Did you really think such a comment would just pass?

109 posted on 08/24/2009 9:15:31 AM PDT by TChris (There is no freedom without the possibility of failure.)
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To: TChris

No, I told you, you win.
Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.
Have a nice day.


110 posted on 08/24/2009 9:17:38 AM PDT by Maverick68 (w)
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To: FormerACLUmember

Seriously, who gives a rat’s patootie?
_____

Chuckling. Seems you do, given your appearance and comment on the thread.


111 posted on 08/24/2009 9:26:26 AM PDT by dmz
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To: All

Truce! Truce! Truce!
Seriously, we have bigger fish to fry, let us not fight amongst ourelves, especially considering I am right and the rest of you are wrong....just kidding!!! ;)


112 posted on 08/24/2009 9:29:08 AM PDT by Maverick68 (w)
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To: Maverick68
Photo=Light
Graphy= Write

Writing with light. A painter uses paint, a photographer uses light. He still has to compose his subject, sometimes he only has a brief second to do so; he has to choose his film (canvas), color, filters, lighting... it's an art.

There's also the science behind it, but that makes the art part of it just as challenging, if not more so.

Trust me, I'm not putting down painters or sculpture's; I have trouble drawing a straight line w/out a straight edge. I have the utmost respect for their abilities.

But the camera has opened up the artistic side of me, and others, that would have been closed off with the other mediums.

113 posted on 08/24/2009 9:31:11 AM PDT by AFreeBird
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Comment #114 Removed by Moderator

To: stephenjohnbanker

lol...I know what you mean

i have dealt with JC Bradford, Sarofim, Pimco, Paine Webber, Merril Lynch, Stephens, Morgan Keegan, Drexel Burnham and Lambert in my career in my family and none did stellar and some lost gobs of cash under management.

Donaldson Lufkin and Jenerette made us very good returns on IPO once when they owed us money.

and Edward Jones is a solid little outfit...very white shoe conservative...I like them admittedly

all our assets are now mostly hard in dirt and business but if we had the cash I would probably take the time to invest it myself....i have historically done better and with no fees

but for now I invest in what I know....car washes, self storage, offices and stuff like that

man if I had been in the markets last year...whew...scary


115 posted on 08/24/2009 9:42:50 AM PDT by wardaddy (Ya'll don't get too cocky about Bro's malaise...Toon came back too)
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To: wardaddy
I thought Sontag left her everything including the rights to all her work. She also allowed Leibovitz to document her gradual decline from cancer photographically. For some reason painters (Don Bachardy), film makers and photographers feel it necessary to show their lovers dying.

And she was more than "vaguely committed", they lived together for many years.

116 posted on 08/24/2009 9:52:40 AM PDT by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
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To: Maverick68

i don’t agree but representational art like Norman is not considered high art...critics view him much like Russell as an illustrator

Remington....later works....artist not illustrator

like I said...I like Rockwell too


117 posted on 08/24/2009 9:57:30 AM PDT by wardaddy (Ya'll don't get too cocky about Bro's malaise...Toon came back too)
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To: TChris

Oh, please! Get over yourself. When a photographer can paint a horse, I’ll consider him an “artist”. Till then, any 10 year old with a disposable camera could do as well. Proof? Just check out the “art” from the “Born Into Brothels” kids. I bought some of their pictures as a way to support them and even put them on the wall, but it’s hardly art.


118 posted on 08/24/2009 9:58:26 AM PDT by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
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To: Albion Wilde

wow...that is bad...I had no idea...poor things


119 posted on 08/24/2009 9:59:12 AM PDT by wardaddy (Ya'll don't get too cocky about Bro's malaise...Toon came back too)
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To: AFreeBird
"Writing with light"? Give me a break. A photo is a picture and a photo with a light flare is "art". If photography is art, so is housekeeping.

The more I visit contemporary art museums, the more I know this "It's art because I say it's art" nonsense is vocational masterbation.

120 posted on 08/24/2009 10:07:28 AM PDT by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
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