'WOMEN: New Portraits' by Annie Leibovitz to open in Zurich in January 2017

Zurich, 24 November 2016 – 'WOMEN: New Portraits', an exhibition of newly commissioned photographs by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz will open to the public in Zurich on 28 January 2017 at ewz-Unterwerk Selnau, as part of a 10-city global tour.

Leibovitz's new work is a continuation of a project that began over fifteen years ago when her most enduringly popular series of photographs, 'Women', was published in 1999. Susan Sontag, with whom the original project was a collaboration, called it "a work in progress". 'WOMEN: New Portraits' reflects the changes in the roles of women today and, as a body of work, is evolving throughout the duration of the exhibition tour.

The new portraits feature women of outstanding achievement including artists, musicians, CEOs, politicians, writers and philanthropists. In addition to the new photographs, the exhibition includes work from the original series, as well as other unpublished photographs taken since.

Annie Leibovitz said: "When I asked UBS about updating the WOMEN's project there was no hesitation. They said let's do it, and they have been extraordinary in every way. It's such a big undertaking and a broad subject, it's like going out and photographing the ocean."

Sergio P. Ermotti, Group Chief Executive Officer, UBS, said: "Partnering with Annie on this truly global project which celebrates women at the top of their fields has been a great success. We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from clients and the public who have visited the exhibition in London, Mexico City, Milan, Hong Kong and New York, amongst other stops. I'm looking forward to a special homecoming in Zurich, where we hope that the new portraits and accompanying public programs will inspire as many people as possible."

Aligned with the focus UBS places on education, free learning programs accompanying the exhibition will explore ways of seeing through photography. In Zurich, these programs will include a workshop with photography students from SKDZ Schule für Kunst und Design Zürich, Gestaltungsschule Zürich (GDK) and F+F Schule für Kunst und Design. On weekends, free family workshops will be presented in collaboration with Fotomuseum Winterthur as Public Program Partner in Zurich. A Teachers' Guide, produced by the International Center of Photography, and a Children’s Activity Guide are available to teachers and the public on the exhibition website.

Over the past year, UBS have also presented an accompanying talks program, 'Women for Women,' addressing topics of global and local relevance to women's rights. For the eighth talk in the series, Annie Leibovitz will be joined by other inspiring women for a 'Talking Circle' in Zurich.
 
Annie Leibovitz (b. 1949) has been making powerful images documenting popular culture since the early 1970s, when she began working as a photojournalist for Rolling Stone. She became the magazine's chief photographer in 1973, and ten years later began working for Vanity Fair and then Vogue. Her large and distinguished body of work encompasses some of the best-known portraits of our time. Exhibitions of Leibovitz’s work have been shown at museums and galleries around the world, including the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the International Center of Photography in New York; the Brooklyn Museum; the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; the National Portrait Gallery in London; and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Her work is held in museum collections from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. to the National Portrait Gallery in London. She has published several collections of photographs and is the recipient of many honours. In 2006 she was made a 'Commandeur' in the 'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres' by the French government. In 2009, she received the International Center of Photography’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the first Creative Excellence Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors, and the Centenary Medal of the Royal Photographic Society in London. In 2012, she was the recipient of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art Award to Distinguished Women in the Arts and the Wexner Prize. In 2013 she received the Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities. In 2015 she received SFMoMA’s Contemporary Vision Award. She has been designated a Living Legend by the Library of Congress.

A set of the new photographs will enter the UBS Art Collection – one of the world's most important corporate collections of contemporary art, comprising more than 30,000 works.

WOMEN: New Portraits
Annie Leibovitz

www.ubs.com/annieleibovitz

ewz-Unterwerk Selnau
Selnaustrasse 25
CH-8001 Zurich

28 January – 19 February 2017
Monday – Wednesday, 10am – 6pm
Thursday, 10am – 8pm
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 10am – 6pm
FREE entry

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#WOMENxUBS by #AnnieLeibovitz
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Notes to editors:

UBS and Contemporary Art
UBS, a global financial services firm, has a long and substantial record of engagement in contemporary art, and actively enables clients and audiences to participate in the international conversation about art through its contemporary art platform. UBS provides long-term global support to the premier international Art Basel shows in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong, for which the firm serves as global Lead Partner, as well as to the Guggenheim UBS MAP global partnership with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation. At the core of UBS’s involvement in contemporary art is the UBS Art Collection, widely recognized as one of the most important corporate contemporary art collections in the world. The collection comprises more than 30,000 objects, including paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, video art and sculptures by artists representing the last 50 years. Works from the collection are installed in 837 UBS buildings in 56 countries around the world. UBS also regularly loans works to many international museums to provide greater public access to its collection. The contemporary photography collection incorporates work by Tina Barney; Candida Höfer; Pipilotti Rist; Cindy Sherman; and Sam Taylor-Johnson, amongst others. UBS Curators and the UBS Art Board determine the location and usage of all new acquisitions to the collection.
www.ubs.com/art
www.ubs.com/artcollection

Art Basel in Miami Beach, Lead Partner UBS, 1 – 4 December 2016
Art Basel in Hong Kong, Lead Partner UBS, 23 – 25 March, 2017

ewz-Unterwerk Selnau
The ewz-Unterwerk Selnau is an old transformer station of the Elektrizitätswerke Zurich.
 

UBS Group AG

www.ubs.com