peace is in our hands

annie liebovitz

I went to the Annie Liebovitz exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery today and was very moved by the small rectangular gallery that features the pin-up walls that Liebovitz created to define the book/exhibition that covers her life between 1990 and 2005. Alongside the familiar shots of celebrities, politicians and heads of state are sensitive snapshots her family, friends and lover. The juxtaposition of these tender, funny every-man images enhance and inform. The image of Liebovitz's mother dancing on the beach with her grandson resonates more powerfully than the portrait of Mikhail Baryshnikov posing on another shore.

There is no question that Liebovitz is a true master of celebrity portraiture - but what is revealed in this exhibition is her humanity. Her love and deep affection for her parents, siblings, children, and soulmate, Susan Sontag. There are a few villains in this piece ... but many more heroes. It is Liebovitz's personal heroes that are celebrated here, and it is her clear, unreserved love for them that is the most moving thing about this exhibition.

'When she shot the veteran photographer Richard Avedon – then nearing 80 and frail – he fretted about the result. Later, calmed, he wrote to Leibovitz: "Thank you for taking care of me." Care, perhaps, is what makes her great.' Charles Darwent, The Independent