A Sad Picture | Drudge Retort

Hell of a photographer, creator of truly iconic images.

There's some more info at "FOr Annie Leibovitz, a Fuzzy Financial Picture" (NYT - July 31, 2009) www.nytimes.com

What did she need the $24 million loan for? From the above referenced article:

Friends and colleagues said that despite her many successes, Ms. Leibovitz has been shadowed by a long history of less than careful financial dealings. Public records show that in the last two years, Ms. Leibovitz has faced tax liens of $1.4 million and two lawsuits claiming that she has not paid more than $700,000 in bills for photography services.

"The mind that can take these extraordinary pictures is not necessarily the same mind that is a perfect money manager," said Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair.

A recent series of personal issues has made navigating her already complex life more difficult, close associates said. In the last five years, Ms. Leibovitz lost her father, her mother and her companion, Susan Sontag; added two children to her family and oversaw the costly and controversial renovation of three properties in Greenwich Village.

Charlie Scheips, the former director of the Cond Nast photo archive who helped Ms. Leibovitz make a deal last year with an auction house to sell prints of her photographs, said that when he spoke to her recently, he was told: "I'm really under the gun. I've got three daughters, I lost my spouse. I've got too many jobs to do and it's chaos."

Matthew Hiltzik, a spokesman for Ms. Leibovitz, pointed a finger at the lender suing Ms. Leibovitz, Art Capital Group, a company in New York with a history of litigation over its boutique loans to artists, art dealers and collectors, who pledge their art works as collateral. "Annie is in the same shoes as many other people involved with Art Capital," Mr. Hiltzik said.

NYT excerpts continued:

In 2005, 37 days after the death of Ms. Sontag, Ms. Leibovitz's father also died. Three months later, on May 12, Ms. Leibovitz's second and third children, twins, were born. In the documentary, Ms. Leibovitz is shown crying as she holds Ms. Sontag's photo.

There has been speculation on blogs and in news articles that Ms. Leibovitz's financial problems arose because Ms. Sontag left her a large inheritance, with steep taxes due because the two women were unable to be legally wed.

But Mr. Rieff, the executor of his mother's estate, said that all Ms. Leibovitz received from Ms. Sontag were sentimental items.

Meanwhile, Ms. Leibovitz was facing real estate expenses. She had bought two adjacent town houses in 2002 on West 11th Street for $4.15 million. During renovations, a neighbor sued her over a damaged wall. Historic preservationists picketed the renovations, holding signs saying, "Not a pretty picture...."

A deal with the auction house Phillips de Pury to sell portfolios of some of her prints for $33,000 did not go as well as hoped, possibly because the first sale of the works took place in October 2008, just as the art market fell apart. Colleagues and close business associates of Ms. Leibovitz are of two minds about how she might escape her financial bind. Some assume her talent and earning power can bail her out. "If anybody has the ability to put these debts away through work, she has the energy and the opportunity," Mr. Carter said. "She has an infinite capacity for work."

But others said Ms. Leibovitz needs to reexamine her attitude and habits around money and spending.