Annie Liebovitz and the suits

[Ross Chambers]

I'm not totally a fan of the talented Ms Liebovitz, not my genre, but I feel for her in finding herself in the sights of the money men (or women).

I wonder how many artists in the ages before mass media reporting went through such bad times?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/nyregion/31leibovitz.html

 

[Tony Egan]

Hmm, over-extending on a real estate fantasy and dodging taxes has a familiar ring to it. It's hard to know who the bad guys or the dullards are in all this. Bad advice, bad managers, bad accountants? Who knows. Poor old Leonard Cohen had to go back on the road in his seventies after trusting someone too much with his money. I usually don't feel sorry for relatively rich people who lose it all due to their own greed or stupidity. Not in a position to judge this one but I don't think I'll be lining up to buy any prints to help her out...

 

[wayne naughton]

Save your sympathy for someone who deserves it Ross.....

 

[Ian Leake]

I expect that most artists before the mass media went through such bad times. Think of Van Gogh's depressions, for example. Or Kertesz stuck in his tiny New York room during the war. Or Edward Weston's financial troubles. Someone (was it Eric Clapton?) said that you can't make meaningful art unless you've first hand experience of bad times.

I don't know Annie Liebovitz, and I doubt I ever will. Perhaps her reputation is deserved, perhaps not (so often someone's public reputation doesn't seem to reflect their private personality). Either way I think she deserves some compassion.

 

[Ian Grant]

I couldn't comprehend the title assuming it was about her clothes until I saw something on the news

We only see a fraction of Liebovitz's work, I have a publication from the 70's devoted to her images and she has amazing strengths and insight, she got where she is on wits & talent, regardless of whether you like her work.

Ian

 

[Bruce Watson]

I expect that most artists before the mass media went through such bad times. Think of Van Gogh's depressions, for example. Or Kertesz stuck in his tiny New York room during the war. Or Edward Weston's financial troubles.

Ian, the woman has a $2M USD / year contract with Vogue magazine. There is no conceivable way you can compare her state with Van Gogh, Kertesz, or Weston. She's been highly successful and extraordinarily well paid for decades. A struggling artist she is not.

 

[Ian Leake]

Ian, the woman has a $2M USD / year contract with Vogue magazine. There is no conceivable way you can compare her state with Van Gogh, Kertesz, or Weston. She's been highly successful and extraordinarily well paid for decades. A struggling artist she is not.

I was responding to Ross's question, "I wonder how many artists in the ages before mass media reporting went through such bad times?" Anyway, $2m is not a lot when compared to her reported debts of $24m. Anyone who owes 12 times their annual income is in deep, deep do-do.

 

[Roger Krueger]

Sounds more like Willie's adventures with the IRS.

And, um, Annie's had some issues with bad habits in the past...

 

[c6h6o3]

the woman has a $2M USD / year contract with Vogue magazine.

Nobody with such an income deserves any sympathy for their financial woes. There is no excuse whatsoever for them.

 

[GeorgeDexter]

Sorry to hear about Leonard Cohen.

 

[Ian Leake]

Nobody with such an income deserves any sympathy for their financial woes. There is no excuse whatsoever for them.

I fail to see why someone's income or professional success should be a criteria for whether they deserve sympathy or not: that smells a bit too much like good old fashioned jealousy to me. What's more relevant is whether they've acted ethically, whether they've broken the law, and whether they've learnt from previous mistakes.

As I lack any specific knowledge about AL's performance in these areas, I'd rather offer her sympathy than ill will. Just the same as I would a student who has racked up a colossal credit card debt, or a factory worker who can't afford their mortgage payments. Of course it's still her responsibility to solve her financial problems. Same goes for the student and the factory worker.

I suppose the moral of AL's tale is: don't borrow from loan sharks.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I fail to see why someone's income or professional success should be a criteria for whether they deserve sympathy or not: that smells a bit too much like good old fashioned jealousy to me. What's more relevant is whether they've acted ethically, whether they've broken the law, and whether they've learnt from previous mistakes.

As I lack any specific knowledge about AL's performance in these areas, I'd rather offer her sympathy than ill will. Just the same as I would a student who has racked up a colossal credit card debt, or a factory worker who can't afford their mortgage payments. Of course it's still her responsibility to solve her financial problems. Same goes for the student and the factory worker.

I suppose the moral of AL's tale is: don't borrow from loan sharks.

perhaps more to the point in her situation, don't write checks with your mouth that your (art) can't cash. And don't go trampling on the underlings, because you never know when one of them will be in the position to deny you something you want or need. She would probably not be in this mess at all if she had just paid her assistants and suppliers on time.

 

[removed account4]

the times article didn't mention that AL took a position
at getty images without the people she owes money knowing about it
since she owes them commission on everything she does this probably wasn't a good thing ...

... in the old days a loan shark would have " knee capped you " i guess
the people she owes money to are a but more sophisticated using the court system and all ...

there is another article on gawker.com ...

 

[PeteZ8]

This is actually pretty old news, can't believe that paper just reported on it.

No sympathy, none. She made a great living from photography, perhaps better than any before her. She wanted more and gambled it in investements. She lost the bet. That's how the greed machine works; you win big, or loose big.

 

[SuzanneR]

the times article didn't mention that AL took a position
at getty images without the people she owes money knowing about it
since she owes them commission on everything she does this probably wasn't a good thing ...

... in the old days a loan shark would have " knee capped you " i guess
the people she owes money to are a but more sophisticated using the court system and all ...

there is another article on gawker.com ...

Great, john... now you've got me hooked on Gawker.com!!

I'm not without some sympathy for AL, in fact I admire what she has managed to accomplish with photography. I had heard she had been saddled with an inheritance tax after the death of her partner, Susan Sontag, but that appears to not have been the case after all.

Seems she's been living rather large, and it's catching up to her. Poor choices on her part to be sure, and it strikes me as a shame for her to have to sell her archive.

My own pictures aren't worth nearly what hers are, but I can't imagine having to sell them all. Ouch. Yup... I'm sympathetic to a degree.

 

[Ian Leake]

Actually the thing that I cannot understand at all is that she appears to have signed away the rights to her future work. The very thought of it leaves me shuddering.

 

[removed account4]

sorry suzanne

Actually the thing that I cannot understand at all is that she appears to have signed away the rights to her future work. The very thought of it leaves me shuddering.

yup
she sold off all her work
her negatives
her intellectual property
her real property .. and all future work ...

and then the 3 townhouses in the village ... what a nightmare ..

i don't think she is going to go to the poor house though.
maybe she will live more within her means eventually,
when the people she owes money to are all paid in full ...

it sounds kind of like the modern version of a greek myth ...

 

[Ian Leake]

... it sounds kind of like the modern version of a greek myth ...

Minus the eagles pecking at her entrails or whatever horrible fate awaited those who messed around with the gods...

 

[Michael W]

Minus the eagles pecking at her entrails or whatever horrible fate awaited those who messed around with the gods...

I think the entrail pecking is done by us (broadly speaking) Internet posters these days.

 

[Ian Leake]

I think the entrail pecking is done by us (broadly speaking) Internet posters these days.

I hope I never become famous.

 

[billbretz]

<<This is actually pretty old news, can't believe that paper just reported on it. >>

The NYTimes first reported the loan on Feb. 24 of this year. The latest round of stories comes from the lawsuit filed this week.

 

[Marc Akemann]

I hope I never become famous.
__________________
Visit me at www.ianleake.com/QUOTE]


Ian, there's something ironic about your statement of hoping to never become famous, as it hovers over "Vist me at www.ianleake.com".

In the context of the AL article, however, I understand what you meant.

-Marc

 

[c6h6o3]

I fail to see why someone's income or professional success should be a criteria for whether they deserve sympathy or not: that smells a bit too much like good old fashioned jealousy to me. What's more relevant is whether they've acted ethically, whether they've broken the law, and whether they've learnt from previous mistakes.

As I lack any specific knowledge about AL's performance in these areas, I'd rather offer her sympathy than ill will. Just the same as I would a student who has racked up a colossal credit card debt, or a factory worker who can't afford their mortgage payments. Of course it's still her responsibility to solve her financial problems. Same goes for the student and the factory worker.

I suppose the moral of AL's tale is: don't borrow from loan sharks.

You have to make a great many mistakes, repeatedly, with that kind of cash flow in order to dig that deep a hole for yourself. That can only come from hubris and a belief that good fortune goes on forever. Obviously she hasn't learned from her past financial mistakes.

I have debts, but I pay them out of income. My assets exceed my liabilities; so I don't envy her a bit.

My statement was too general. Of course I'd cut her some slack if she'd only made a few mistakes. But in the red to the tune of a dozen times her annual income? Come on!

 

[billbretz]

<<My statement was too general. Of course I'd cut her some slack if she'd only made a few mistakes. But in the red to the tune of a dozen times her annual income? Come on!>>

That assumes her only income is from the Vanity Fair gig, clearly she has many more income streams. Not that it absolves her of responsibility for her current issues...

 

[Tom Nutter]

In her recent book, "Annie Liebovitz at Work," page 70, she refers to having bad credit "after all those years at Rolling Stone" (Which was probably one of the best gigs of the time) and that she had strings pulled to get an American Express card after several denials.This took place after her wildly successful ad campaign for AE in the '80's. She obviously has bad judgment when it comes to financials, but it seems she could afford some sort of adviser before making continuously worse decisions. That said, she is a great artist whose work I respect, and she certainly wouldn't be the first artist in history to be REALLY good at her craft and REALLY bad at other things.

I fear also that if I owed that kinda cake to somebody, it would put a serious damper on my ability to be highly creative. I think this is a dangerous spot to be in on many more levels than the obvious.