Annie Leibovitz in Plano, Illinois, in 2011 / photo © Annie Leibovitz
This morning, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia announced a donation of 2,070 Annie Leibovitz photographs.
The museum says this makes the AGNS the largest known holder of Leibovitz’s work in a public collection.
The gift came from Toronto, and it was made in honour of Al and the late Faye Mintz by their children.
“My parents have always loved Annie Leibovitz’s photography, how she combines technique with creativity, beauty with controversy, humour with honesty,” son Harley Mintz said in a release. “For them, every photograph told a story and, with my mother’s passing two years ago, my father is thrilled to be able to share these ‘stories’ with the people of Nova Scotia.”
AGNS director and CEO Ray Cronin called the gift “transformative” in terms of the gallery’s photo collection.
The set consists of pictures Leibovitz included in books she has published since 1983. It includes reportage work made in the early 1970s as well as landscapes and still lifes made more recently, and many of her well-known portraits of artists and public figures. Mostly the gift consists of editioned prints, but also includes vintage file prints.
According to the AGNS, the first part of the Leibovitz gift will be unveiled this fall, and it will be exhibited throughout the gallery as determined by chief curator Sarah Fillmore.
