The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles has announced photographer Annie Leibovitz as the recipient of the 7th MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts.
“Annie Leibovitz’s powerful images of American popular culture have documented our society over the past four decades. MOCA is pleased to include one of the most influential photographers of our time to the impressive list of artists, actors, choreographers, and contemporary art figures to receive our Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts,” said MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch.
The MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts was established by The MOCA Projects Council in 1994 to recognize the many gifted women providing leadership and innovation in the visual arts, dance, music, and literature. Past recipients include noted collector and patron Beatrice Gersh (1994), editor Tina Brown (1997), choreographer Twyla Tharp (1999), actress and director Anjelica Huston (2001), and artists Barbara Kruger (2001), Yoko Ono (2003), and Jenny Holzer (2010). This year the event will be led by chairs Marla Diamond and Carole Kopple. All proceeds from the 7th MOCA Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts Luncheon support MOCA Education and the award-winning Contemporary Art Start Program, which was recently selected to receive a 2012 Superintendent’s Award for Excellence in Museum Education, an honor jointly awarded by the California Association of Museums and the Office of the State Superintendent of Public Education.
Annie Leibovitz (b. 1949, Waterbury, Connecticut) began her career as a photojournalist for Rolling Stone in 1970, while she was still a student at the San Francisco Art Institute. Her pictures have appeared regularly on magazine covers ever since, and her large and distinguished body of work encompasses some of the most well-known portraits of our time. Leibovitz’s first major assignment was for a cover story on John Lennon. She became Rolling Stone’s chief photographer in 1973, and by the time she left the magazine, 10 years later, she had shot 142 covers and published photo essays on scores of stories, including her memorable accounts of the resignation of Richard Nixon and of the 1975 Rolling Stones tour. In 1983, when she joined the staff of the revived Vanity Fair, she was established as the foremost rock music photographer and an astute documentarian of the social landscape. Exhibitions of Leibovitz’s work have appeared at museums and galleries all over the world, including the National Portrait Gallery and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the International Center of Photography in New York; the Brooklyn Museum; the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris; and the National Portrait Gallery in London. Her numerous honors include the International Center of Photography’s Lifetime Achievement Award, ASME’s first Creative Excellence Award, and the Centenary Medal of the Royal Photographic Society in London (2009). In 2006, she was decorated a Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, and the Library of Congress has designated her a Living Legend. She lives in New York with her three children, Sarah, Susan, and Samuelle. – www.moca.org