Leibovitz exhibit showcases fame with heart
"Annie Leibovitz/Work" runs through Aug. 31 at the Mint Museum Uptown
This review by longtime Charlotte arts critic Lawrence Toppman was published by The Charlotte Ledger on May 12, 2025. You can find out more about The Charlotte Ledger’s commitment to smart local news and information and sign up for our newsletter for free here. Ledger subscribers can add the Toppman on the Arts newsletter on their “My Account” page.
Annie Leibovitz retrospective reveals the humanity behind the portrait; don’t miss the National Gallery gems down the hall
Thousands turned out to the Mint Museum Uptown Sunday for a Mother’s Day community celebration that featured free entry to the museum and Leibovitz exhibit, photos and entertainment. (Photo by Cristina Bolling)
by Lawrence Toppman
In Yiddish, the language Annie Leibovitz’ Jewish ancestors spoke before emigrating here from Eastern Europe, her last name translates loosely to “child of the lion.” That suits her: She’s patient, alert to all details, searching for the precise moment to seize the perfect shot.
“Leib” also relates to “lev,” the Hebrew word for heart, and that fits, too. Not for her the pitiless gaze of Richard Avedon, satirical eye of Diane Arbus or documentary detachment of Robert Capa. “A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people,” she has said. The proof hangs in “Annie Leibovitz/Work,” which runs through Aug. 31 at the Mint Museum Uptown.
You’ll find iconic photos of the nude and massively pregnant Demi Moore, John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the yin/yang pose shot five hours before his murder, self-conscious Bruce Springsteen on his motorcycle, Ms. Goldberg Whooping it up in her bathtub full of milk.
Yet what you take away from this sprawling retrospective of 50-plus years is her sympathy with sitters. Steve Martin wants to show off his Franz Kline painting? Place him before it in a black-and-white suit that echoes its lines. Olympic sprinter Carl Lewis wants to stir a pot swirling with rumors about his sexual orientation? Pose him at the starting line in red stiletto heels.
Even as a teenager, visiting her military father at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines during the Vietnam War, she respected her subjects. The earliest memorable photo here comes from 1968, when the teenager shot “American Soldiers and the Queen of the Negritos.” Three G.I.s stand casually around tiny, dignified Mary, most venerable of the Filipino servants on the base; she wears her best white dress and tucks a can under her arm. (I was at Clark in 1962 and remember how humbly the Negritos lived; service families often gave them food to take home.)
You can’t tell the players without a scorecard, provided by the Mint via QR code at the exhibit or here online. It guides you through all the rooms but hardly helps in the final salon: There, dozens of photos flash past on four multi-paneled screens, and the map list doesn’t go screen by screen. It assumes you’re swiveling your head constantly among all four, like a camera tripod.
Leibovitz, who’s now 75, hit her stride when she went on tour with the Rolling Stones 50 years ago. We see Charlie Watts daydreaming, unlined Keith Richards napping, Mick Jagger preening while half-awake — just lads, lucky to be getting rich at their dream jobs. Yet among these light-hearted, black-and-white photos, we find one in color: an unidentified arm with a suicidal scar stitched shut, shot under a yellow light that suggests a hospital room.
Leibovitz occasionally does something dully obvious. Clint Eastwood scowls in a leather jacket; Arnold Schwarzenegger flexes in Mr. Olympia style; John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd have faces painted blue — the Blues Brothers, get it? — and Robert Redford sits by the Pacific Ocean, a blond, bland movie star on his deck.
More often she reimagines people for us. Martina Navratilova, muscled like a Greek statue, poses by a huge factory wheel, like a Soviet worker glorifying labor in Stalinist propaganda. Modern choreographer Mark Morris lounges on a couch in the forest like a native in an Henri Rousseau painting, his big belly sagging and a blissful grin on his face.
Over and over, we find repeated themes. Leibovitz likes to show the bones of things, whether snake or pigeon skeletons, tree branches or the ribs of a building. She uses beds and couches to create feelings of intimacy and promote the illusion we’re seeing folks as they are when relaxed. She shoots shirtless or nude people, perhaps again to suggest their “reality.” (In the Ono-Lennon photograph, the person perceived as the dominant one stays clothed; the other clings to her, naked and curled up like a giant fetus.)
It's easy to miss my favorite set of six photos, tucked in a corner of one room near a section devoted to Leibovitz’ long-time partner, Susan Sontag. Those six reveal Vegas showgirls as they appear in casual attire, then glamorized for the stage. A bespectacled woman who could be a librarian transforms unrecognizably into a stunning feathered nude in her revue, and Leibovitz shoots both portraits with equal affection.
Be sure to see these three paintings, too
“Across the Nation: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art” offers pieces on loan through March 22, 2027: Edgar Degas’ oil painting “Dancers Backstage,” Georgia O’Keeffe’s oil “Jack-in-Pulpit – No.2” and Alma Thomas’ acrylic “Autumn Drama.” You’ll have to search; look for long purple banners next to each on the fourth floor, across the main hall from Leibovitz.
The small Degas, familiar to fans of the French artist because of its pink tutus and green stage landscape, tells an unsettling story: A black-garbed patron, seen in corpulent profile, stands backstage while deciding which dancer he’ll take on a “date” after the performance.
O’Keeffe staunchly denied that her vast, sensual flower, thrusting black-purple petals out of dazzling green leaves, had erotic connotations. Ummm … OK. It’s gorgeous, whether as a sexual symbol or just a depiction of the intoxicating beauty of nature.
I liked Thomas’ painting best. Parallel vertical lines of many hues grab the eye, and small spaces between the painted areas suggest the way film frames speed by to give the illusion of movement. My eye unified these rainbow bands into flowing rivulets of color.
➡️ If You’re Going: The Mint Museum is at 500 S. Tryon St. The museum is free on Wednesdays from 5 to 9 p.m. Whenever you go, there’s a $10 surcharge to see the Leibovitz exhibit.
Lawrence Toppman covered the arts for 40 years at The Charlotte Observer before retiring in 2020. Now, he’s back in the critic’s chair for the Charlotte Ledger — look for his reviews several times each month in the Charlotte Ledger.
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