Leibovitz opens new art show at Smithsonian

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Photographer Annie Leibovitz says she has come back from some dark days and revived her creativity with a new project now on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum that marks a departure from her popular celebrity portraits.

Two years ago, Leibovitz was facing millions in debt and a mismanaged fortune that nearly cost her the legal rights to her own work, which includes some of pop culture’s most memorable images. The ordeal was a good lesson in managing her business, Leibovitz said, but left her “emotionally and mentally depleted.”

On Tuesday, she led a tour through the photographs she says renewed her inspiration with a few road trips through U.S. history. The idea grew out of a book she had wanted to make with her partner, Susan Sontag, with a list of destinations and an excuse to visit them. After Sontag died, she eventually revived the idea with her young children.

It began with a six-hour drive to Niagara Falls during the period of her financial troubles only to find out her credit card had been rejected at a hotel and their rooms had been given away. While they found another place to stay, Leibovitz was upset and wanted to go home. But she agreed to go to a lookout point at the waterfalls with her kids.

“I was sitting off to the side, feeling a little down, and I saw my children mesmerized, studying the falls,” she said. “And I walked over, stood behind them ... and I took this picture.”

It’s a snapshot anyone could have taken, she said: an image that captures the blue-green water before it plunges over the falls. Soon she began thinking of other places to visit.

The images that would become “Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage” include depictions of landscapes and people, but no faces. Instead, Leibovitz photographed historic objects and scenes, including the homes of “Little Women” author Louisa May Alcott, essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, entertainer Elvis Presley and others.

“I was swept away when I walked into these places,” she said. “I found myself taking pictures and not thinking about any consequences. I was seduced.”

There were obstacles, though. One was coming to terms with photographing objects, she said, and finding a way to give them some emotion. She began creating close-up images, as with a nightdress worn by Emily Dickinson. Leibovitz zoomed in on the intricate detail.

“That is not my kind of picture. I mean, I don’t ever come in tight like that,” Leibovitz said. “It’s not me.”

It’s also her first all-digital photography show. Leibovitz said she is still learning about new technology and about herself.

“This is an amazing time to be a photographer,” she said. “I discovered things about myself which were really comforting ― that the work had a deep well, that it wasn’t going to go away.”