Annie Leibovitz was inducted into the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris in an emotional ceremony attended by Anna Wintour, Patti Smith & more.
The U.S. photographer was inducted to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris on Wednesday in a star-studded ceremony filled with pageantry, earning her the title of Immortal, as the French refer to members of the illustrious institution., wearing her signature dark sunglasses, handed over the ceremonial sword at the outcome of the ritual staged under the imposing dome of the Institut de France, under the watchful eye of infantry officers of the French Republican Guard.
“The only thing more daunting than a French fashion show is a French academy, and by a similar principle, the only thing more intimidating than Annie Leibovitz is Annie Leibovitz brandishing a sword, so I stand before you today in awe and some degree of terror,” Wintour said when it was her turn to speak.
“In that way Annie is the most essential thing any artist can be: she is generous. So Annie we salute you, you have become Immortal,” Wintour concluded, her voice cracking.Leibovitz was flanked by four generations of relatives, including her aunt Sally Jane, her sisters Susan and Barbara, her brother Philip and her daughter Susan. “My oldest daughter, Sarah, is somewhere in the Appenine Mountains, studying limestone outcroppings. She is a young earth scientist,” she said.
Salgado recounted how Leibovitz started taking pictures in the late 1960s when she was studying painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, before working for Rolling Stone and subsequently Vanity Fair and Vogue, portraying a roll call of international figures ranging from John Lennon toHe suggested that her images were frequently more powerful that the words that accompanied them, a comment she echoed in her speech.
After the ceremony, Leibovitz and guests headed to the courtyard of the 17th century building, where she showed off her sword toEdouard Brane/Courtesy of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
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