Portrait of an Artist

“There’s this idea that in portraiture it’s the photographer’s job to set the subject at ease. I don’t believe that. All the work that I’ve ever done, the ideas emanate from that person: stand over here, present yourself. We’re so complicated as human beings, there’s so many parts to us. That’s where the ideas come from. Even in the most set-up situations I believe there’s really something going on.” – Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz has photographed many well-known American artists throughout her career, including several in the Crystal Bridges collection. Leibovitz has spoken often about her collaborative process with a subject in creating her portraits, so we thought it would be a fun visual exercise to place her portrait of an artist in conversation with that artist’s work from our collection. These are some of the most influential artists working in the United States over the past few decades, as Annie sees them.

In 1986, in New York, Annie made a portrait of the artist Keith Haring. She asked Haring to paint himself and she made a white set that looked like a living room. When he came in, he painted the set in less than an hour. Then he painted himself in about five minutes. When the portrait was finished, Haring said he would like to go out. It was a cold winter night, but no one, including a couple of policemen who were there, questioned why a painted, naked man was standing in the middle of Times Square.

Staged in her Brooklyn, NY, studio, this portrait shows Mickalene Thomas at work, offering a glimpse into her creative space. Leibovitz often photographs artists in their studios, and she took this portrait of Thomas after Vanity Fair selected her as one of today’s most influential women artists. Currently on view in the Contemporary Gallery, her work Guernica (Resist #3) layers imagery from the civil rights and Black Lives Matter movements alongside motifs from Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937).

Leibowitz created this portrait of Amy Sherald in her childhood home in Columbus, Georgia. She took this photograph through a doorway, making the viewer feel like they are looking in on a private space. Her green dress stands out against the wash of yellow light, and her bare feet signal she is at home. Vanity Fair also selected Sherald as one of today’s most influential women artists, and Leibovitz took this portrait for her feature. In the painting, Precious Jewels by the Sea, Sherald creates a picture-perfect scene of Americana, continuing her efforts to increase the visibility of Black Americans.

Maman by Louise Bourgeois stands majestically on the grounds of Crystal Bridges, greeting guests who arrive at the museum via the Art Trail that leads to our south entrance. Measuring over 30 feet in both height and width, and made of bronze, stainless steel and marble, this impressive spider sculpture seems to step right out of the forest surrounding her. If you look closely at her belly, you can see that Maman carefully holds 32 marble eggs in her egg sac, revealing the inspiration for the work’s title. Bourgeois created Maman, the French term for “mommy,” as an homage to her mother.

Leibovitz photographed Jasper Johns in his studio in Sharon, Connecticut for the 2012 December issue of Vogue. Relaxed in a chair, he poses in front of shelves lined with treasured objects. Johns became famous for his paintings of symbols, like the American flag. Johns used the flag as both subject and material. Here, he adhered a flag to the canvas and layered pigment mixed with wax over the surface.