Posted on 08/23/2009 9:09:22 AM PDT by OldCorps
Annie Leibovitz is as famous as the people she photographs but now the genius behind the lens is close to financial ruin -- a victim, some say, of her own relentless artistic ambition. Among the qualities making Leibovitz, 59, the most sought after portrait photographer in the world are legendary perfectionism and the pouring of resources into lavish sets. Over the course of her long career, nothing has been too extreme in Leibovitz's pursuit of the perfect picture. She put former action icon and current California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on top of a mountain, submerged black actress Whoopi Goldberg in a bath of milk and closed France's Versailles palace to shoot Kirsten Dunst posing as Marie-Antoinette. Circus animals, fire, airplanes -- she was rarely denied a requested prop, however seemingly outrageous.
A debt is due September 8 and if she can't pay up, she could lose her life's work. ACG, which specializes in making loans to owners of high value art works, is unlikely to adopt a soft line. Leibovitz must "comply with the sales agreement she signed authorizing Art Capital to sell the fine art and real estate assets and to pay the invoices that are due," ACG spokesman Montieth Illingworth said in a statement. The over-leveraged photographer not only risks losing her photo archives, which The New York Times estimates could be worth 50 million dollars, but also her house in the trendy Greenwich Village district of Manhattan and a second home outside the city. If she is forced to declare bankruptcy, it will then be up to the courts to decide how to distribute the assets. Banking giant Goldman Sachs entered the fray this week with a claim to own part of Leibovitz's debt. ACG disputes that, but says Goldman Sachs could ...
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
as one living it as we speak
banks are stingy mofos right now
Debts closing in on photographer Annie Leibovitz
$24 Million Debt Due Tomorrow, September 8
I have eliminated the "photography is not art" and "I can take a better shot with my Brownie" respondents to this thread, but tried to ping everyone interested either in her work or the financial implications of her situation.
In addition to her mortgages, court records show that she piled up years of federal, state and city liens and judgments from vendors for unpaid bills - all presumably now satisfied with the $24 million she borrowed. Federal records show that Leibovitz owed a total of $2.1 million in unpaid taxes for tax years 2004, 2006 and 2007. She also had New York state tax liens of $247,980 for six years, including $135,915 in 2007. And she owed New York City several thousand dollars for three years.Willie Nelson did the same thing. These people make millions and vote for the people who take it all away. The article also noted that she spends money lavishly, and is in these financial straits despite a 2 million salary from Vanity Fair and a $100,000 fee for a portrait sitting.
She really sold her soul, didn't she?
What was she high on when she made that deal?
I believe that any of her copyrighted future work may also be part of the loan asset agreement with ACG.
So take some more damn pictures and earn some more cash.
I like Annie Leibovitz’s work and hope she gets a white knight. I know the torches and pitchforks gang here love to watch rich folks suffer...it’s one of FR’s dark themes..populist resentment.
Speilberg, Geffen, Buffet, Gates or the Donald ...someone could bail her out and fix some sort of equitable resolution for all parties.
The banks won’t. Banks are meaner than a menopausal virgin at a Moose Lodge bonfire about right now.
You'd think Jan Wenner of Rolling Stone or Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair... but who knows what tensions with them came from not paying suppliers for their cover shots came before this crisis.
From the sound of things, she needs to lose a lot in order to set her house in order. Maybe even the rights to a large part of her catalog. But not the future of her work. That's Dickensian. I guess ultra-shrewd dealings are the coin of the realm up there in the east-coast capital of American liberalism.
Maybe she could compete on The Apprentice....
That could be a problem.
“The banks wont. Banks are meaner than a menopausal virgin at a Moose Lodge bonfire about right now.”
SJB trying to visualize..........
Keith would have been better off going to Glamour Shots.
“Speilberg, Geffen, Buffet, Gates or the Donald ...someone could bail her out and fix some sort of equitable resolution for all parties.”
If the deal was salvageable, one of these fellows(or someone of their ilk) would have come forward. Not Buffet though. He is in strict shylock mode.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/annie-leibovitz-faces-a-loan-deadline/?hp
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