Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #148966 in Books
• Published on: 1991-10-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 232 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Leibowitz did many of these 242 photo-portraits (one-third of them in color) for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair , yet others included here are previously unpublished. Posed shots and fanzine fare alternate with more penetrating character studies. Norman Mailer, Hugh Hefner, Tennessee Williams, Susan Sontag, Mikhail Baryshnikov and an utterly pretentious Ivana and Donald Trump hide nothing from her gaze. Some pictures are tacky (Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold mud-wrestling), some are blah (Philip Glass, Dennis Hopper), some are kitsch (seductive Bette Midler festooned with roses). A few are symbolical, such as the one of ferocious, body-painted Keith Haring looking like one of his own artistic creations. Snaps of John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Rickie Lee Jones will please rock fans. Vistas like Highway 101, California or the glimpse of Nixon leaving the White House by helicopter after his resignation seem to define a time and place. Author tour.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Star photographer of Rolling Stone , Vanity Fair , and numerous other magazines since the Seventies, Leibovitz here offers a retrospective that shows how far she has come. The early photographs have a documentary feel, even recalling Evans's Depression-era photography or Arbus's sense of the grotesque. They can seem cluttered, but in fact present the right amount of information without feeling posed. The later photographs are cleaner, clearer, and often in color. Props are used effectively to extend the subject's image: Keith Haring painted with the black-and-white abstractions he favored; Christo wrapped; David Lynch with turtleneck up to the hairline; Sting caked in mud: Clint Eastwood tied up; a shot of Pele's soccer-battered feet. These photographs simultaneously exploit each luminary's image while allowing them a certain privacy because they are playing along with the photographer. Ingrid Sishchy's introductory interview gets to the heart of Leibovitz's working methods and concerns. A book for popular collections that also offers cultural insight.
-Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Gorgeous Book
I picked up this book years ago when it came out. Outstanding photographs throughout. Since then I married and moved a lot of my books into an office. I recently rearranged my office and found the Leibovitz book and looked through it again. I still am impressed with the images even after about 5 years of not viewing them. Really a time capsule of collected photos.

This is an excellent book and I would encourage you to get a copy if you have any interest in photography, pop culture or simply beautiful images.