October 2, 1949

You don't have to make a case that Annie Leibovitz (October 2, 1949) is a great artist. After years as chief photographer for Rolling Stone (1973 to 1983), and later Vogue and Vanity Fair, her images are part of an American vocabulary. While looking at her portraits I was struck with two things. One, there aren't many felines. The September 2009 Vogue has a Leibovitz cover with Drew Barrymore and a big stuffed lion. And some work she did for Disney, has a shot with a stone gargoyley cat, shown below.

And point two is connected with the first striking feature. The cats visible aren't really cats, which fits with the second interesting thing about the art of Annie Leibovitz. Her photos are all surface. You are not invited to put yourself anywhere in these shots. Her scenarios are often with a strong fantasy atmosphere, but, not a feline fantasy, and not a human fantasy. This is taking imagination to a new, non-human, level.