Annie Leibovitz: $250K a day and bankrupt?

Annie Leibovitz, one of the most revered, and certainly the most famous, living photographers is in danger of losing the rights to her catalogue of iconic portraiture, which includes everything from a naked and pregnant Demi Moore on the cover Vanity fair to a formal sitting with the Queen of England.

With a reported 'contract for life' from Condé Nast, thought to be worth some $5 million annually, and a day rate of $250,000 just to set foot in a studio for an ad job - how did this happen?

In an article in this week's New York Magazine, the publication explores how Leibovitz, in the throws of fame and fortune, has gotten to the point of signing her life away for a $24M loan.

In short, the article paints a 'portrait' of Leibovitz as reckless with money and spending well beyond her means.

Her perfectionism has led her to pay little or no attention to budget restrictions, and she essentially throws money away onsite, losing cameras, accruing parking tickets, and even abandoning rental cars.

At one point in her early career, Robert Draper claims in his Rolling Stone Magazine: The Uncensored History that Leibovitz, a full-fledged drug addict at the time who twice overdosed, may have even hocked some of her cameras to pay for drugs.

[Leibovitz is sober now after her family coaxed her into rehab in the early eighties.]

In 1987, American Express, the same company that denied her a credit card many times, offered her a plum ad campaign. After the ad agency found out she’d lost an envelope containing several thousand dollars, owing to her having to deal in cash with skeptical vendors, strings were pulled to get her a card.

Leibovitz couldn't even get around to signing and collecting the money for, more importantly, the prints she had sold through her gallerist, Edwynn Houk.

This reckless attitude toward money plus an extravagent lifestyle - of homes, personal chefs, private planes, the works - has led to a $24M situation.

Art Capital, a company that atypically lends money allowing art as collateral, in this case Leibovitz's catalogue of work, gave her $24M and one year to effectively sort out all of her major outstanding obligations. The loan is due this September.

I was fortunate to see her 'Photographer's Life' exhibition in London last year, and it's hard to imagine those images being pawned off so carelessly.

So, how will our favourite photog come up with $24M by next month?

Hopefully, a lot of Louis Vuitton ads...

Source: New York Magazine