Women

by Annie Leibovitz, Susan Sontag

Random House, 240 pp., $75

Dream on: That’s what most coffeetable books encourage us to do. Dream on, and be swept into another universe. Women, the mutually authored book of photographs by Annie Leibovitz and essay by Susan Sontag, challenges us to dream; moreover, to think. “After all, a photograph is not an opinion. Or is it?” This suggestive Sontag query closes her essay; it is the most provocative aspect of her piece, which otherwise unremarkably covers familiar ground regarding photography’s complicity in creating and perpetuating female role models and self-images. The stated purpose of this book is to present the variety of womanhood. The book fails in the accomplishment of this goal. Ironically, what it achieves is something quite different, yet something worth contemplating in itself. With its preponderance of photographs of women of celebrity and women in unusual occupations, the book presents a panoramic portrait of women’s strength. Indeed, the wit and clarity of Leibovitz’s photographs lead us to perceive the indomitability of women and their unconventional choices. These are articulate photographs, many of them uncommon and unforgettable, much like the women we all know.

This article appears in December 24 • 1999.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.