(Paris) A wind of rock and glamor blew on Wednesday under the dome of the Institut de France, in Paris, with the installation of the portraitist of the stars, the American Annie Leibovitz, in the presence of the popess of fashion Anna Wintour and singer Patti Smith.
It was dressed in a long jacket and cigarette pants that the 1.83 m tall photographer was received among the Immortals, as a foreign associate member of the Academy of Fine Arts. She joins artists like Georg Baselitz or Norman Foster and inherits the chair of the architect Pei, who died in 2019.
It is “sincerely one of the great moments of my life”, declared Annie Leibovitz, in a speech in English punctuated by silences, the time to see several of her iconic photos parade.
Like that of Demi Moore naked and pregnant in 1991. A “shot that shook the societal norms of the time […] By exalting the beauty of pregnancy, Annie helped women feel better in their pregnant bodies,” praised her colleague and friend Sebastiao Salgado.
That of John Lennon naked, embracing Yoko Ono, the last taken during his lifetime. Or that of Donald Trump in 2006 on the tarmac of an airport with his wife Melania, pregnant and in a bikini.
The 74-year-old photographer, who lived for a time in Paris, paid tribute to the master Cartier-Bresson and his late partner, the writer Susan Sontag, who died in 2004.
Known for her ultra-slick portraits in the pages of Vanity Fair And Vogueand before that in the magazine Rolling StoneAnnie Leibovitz took advantage of this ceremony to show the most intimate side of her work, made up of photos of those close to her, including her three daughters and her parents.
PHOTO MIGUEL MEDINA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Anna Wintour (right), editorial director of Voguegives Annie Leibovitz her academic sword made from wooden branches collected near the Hudson River, where she grew up.
“For me, photography is life as a whole […] The truth is that photography was invented so that everyone could make images of themselves, their family, friends, landscapes, things that are meaningful to them,” she said.
Her academic sword was given to her by Anna Wintour, with whom she has worked for many years.
The moved voice, the editorial director of Vogue praised Annie Leibovitz’s “x-ray vision,” before handing her a sword made from wooden branches collected near the Hudson River, where she grew up.
“Annie, you are now immortal,” she said, hidden behind huge sunglasses.
Patti Smith came to bring an extra level of emotion to this ceremony, singing Peaceable Kingdomaccompanied by her daughter.