Annie Leibovitz, Pilgrimage, at Santa Fe’s O’Keeffe Museum

photo: Heidi Utz

On Wednesday I received an amazing Valentine: the opportunity to attend a private reception with Annie Leibovitz on the eve of her new exhibition, Pilgrimage, at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Leibovitz describes the show's subjects as those that have shaped her view of her cultural inheritance. These are, essentially, 64 portraits of objects that signify her influences and idols, from O’Keeffe to Marian Anderson to Virginia Woolf. Many of these historical relics, such as Thoreau’s Chinese soft bedframe from Walden Pond, currently reside in museums. 

Unlike her best-known works, frequently commercial celebrity portraits, Leibovitz took these photos during 2009-2011 simply because she was moved to. She calls it “an exercise in renewal [that] taught me to see again.” And adds, “Looking at history provided a way of going forward.” Organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, this traveling exhibit includes images from two separate trips to NM to photograph O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu home, Ghost Ranch, O’Keeffe’s “Black Place,” and the museum’s vault.

photo: Annie Leibovitz

In this mostly American cluster of subjects, Leibovitz opts for individuals residing squarely in the traditional canon—Pete Seeger, Eleanor Roosevelt, Elvis, Emerson, Lincoln—as well as several iconic geographies—Old Faithful, Yosemite, Niagara Falls, and Monticello. All feel familiar and safe. Though perhaps disappointing for those of us who admire her bolder work, in shaky, turmoil-filled times, artists sometimes retreat to more reassuring traditional subjects rather than embrace an edge that feels everpresent in the environment.

photo: Annie Leibovitz

Some of the photos are straight-up documentation: Lewis & Clark’s compass, Emerson’s bookcases, a glass negative of Lincoln. Though predictably well-rendered, their flat, purely documentary quality offers little opportunity for transcendence and doesn't establish new contexts or ideas about their subjects. The near-fetishization of objects (which she dubs “talismans”) seems out of character, given Leibovitz’s four-decade career creating some of the world’s most imaginative personal portraits. Many prove emotionally sterile, especially when one recalls some of her groundbreaking shots (a very pregnant, very naked Demi Moore; a very Yoko-ed John Lennon). Part of what's missing is the point of view her portraits carry. Sure, there's the obvious care she took in photographing these objects, but is fondness for a subject enough? Leibovitz once stated, "Sometimes I enjoy just photographing the surface because I think it can be as revealing as going to the heart of the matter.” In this show, I wish the revelations had been deeper.

Leibovitz’s real talent is bringing people to life in interesting contexts. While documenting relics of the famous is necessary, such denotation seems well beneath her creative imagination. Yes, some of these objects do hold a certain cultural and historical resonance. But the question is, what do we gain by looking at them now? Her response: "These are pictures of people to me. It’s all we have left to represent them. I’m dealing with things that are going away, disappearing, crumbling. How do we hold on to stuff?” As the Digital Age increasingly overtakes us, and tangible objects seem threatened with extinction, I've sometimes asked the same question. I think back to the very analog life of my schoolbooks and marvel at how far away it can seem. But is the answer embracing the tight confines of the traditional Western canon, a trip among whose much-vaunted artifacts may feel like a return to an airless classroom?

photo: Annie Leibovitz

That said, several images do stand out. One is a close-up of Emily Dickinson’s embroidered white dress. Though simply two buttons, a hint of collar, and a swatch of fabric, the shot has a great immediacy and resonance. When combined with the image of pressed flowers from the poet's herbarium, the Belle of Amherst instantly enters the room. Another more complex image portrays Elvis’ elaborate burial site at Graceland, processed in saturated colors, with its cemetery stones glowing blue. Its playfulness feels so very authentic to Presley's projected identity and campy residence. A third fine shot is the considerably more humble abode of Jacob Lott—its striking, yellow-leaved tree and laundry line powerfully conveying place and season.

Maria Chabot, O'Keeffe breaking the fast

After viewing most of Pilgrimage, I wandered into the next room, where the ongoing Georgia O’Keeffe and the Faraway: Nature and Image exhibit still hangs (thru 5/5/13). I found myself more drawn to some of the marvelous shots of O’Keeffe and partner Maria Chabot hiking and camping in the northern NM wilderness. This proved a great contrast to Leibovitz’s photos, in which state-of-the-art lenses and colored filters tended to violate the historicity of the objects. Whereas the O’Keeffe exhibit’s original b&w Polaroids, shot in 1961 by Chabot, Todd Webb and Tony Vaccaro, seemed more genuine in the moment. Much of their charm derives not only from the novelty of seeing O’Keeffe unposed in these settings, but also from the age of the photos themselves. There's a harmony and internal verisimilitude among photographic medium, subject, and place that’s lacking in many of Leibovitz’s shots.

It’s hard to know how much of a role the Smithsonian played in Leibovitz’s choice of subjects and method of photographing. Obviously when an entity that large is involved, subject matter will be directed and edited. This factor also seemed to come into play with the photographer’s recent series of Disney-fied portraits, which hurt me to look at. I'm not sure why a photographer of her caliber would want to perpetuate such an insipid part of our culture. Annie Leibovitz may well be tired of doing the portraits she’s best known for. But I hope in the future she returns to getting inside and underneath, rather than dwelling on the surface. 

Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage opens at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, on Friday, February 15, 2013, and runs through May 5, 2013. The exhibition, which first opened at the Smithsonian in January 2012, is touring 8 museums nationally. For dates and places, check

here.