NEW YORK – Celebrity artist Annie Leibovitz risked losing the copyright to her famous images – and her entire life’s work – if she did not pay back a multimillion-dollar loan by yesterday.
Art Capital Group (ACG), a New York company that issues short-term loans against fine and decorative arts and real estate, sued her in July for breach of contract.
“We have clear contractual rights and will protect them in any scenario,” said ACG spokesman Montieth Illingworth. “Our preference is for this to be resolved.”
Some experts say filing for bankruptcy reorganisation could be the best option for Leibovitz (59), who has put up as collateral her three historic Greenwich Village townhouses, an upstate property and work. She bought two of the townhouses in 2002, embarking on extensive renovations to combine them into one property.
That spurred protests from historic preservationists and a $15 million (€10m) lawsuit by a neighbour. “Based on the magnitude of her obligations and the facts as they are publicly known, that would be the best option,” said art lawyer Peter Stern.
Leibovitz’s images of musicians, presidents and Hollywood glitterati are cultural touchstones. One of her earliest photos is of John Lennon curled up naked in a foetal position with Yoko Ono, taken just hours before he was assassinated in 1980.
Her editorial agent, Contact Press Images, declined to comment on the case, saying it was a private matter. Her spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik, accused ACG of harassment.
“There has been tension and dispute since the beginning . . . For now, her attention remains on her photography and on continuing to organise her finances,” he said.
A reorganisation filing would suspend all litigation against Leibovitz and place her finances under the protection of a federal judge, said bankruptcy lawyer Paul Silverman, who works with Mr Stern. Neither lawyer is involved in the case.
Last year, Leibovitz put up her homes and the copyright to every picture she has ever taken – or will take – as collateral to secure the $24 million loan to pay off her mounting debt: unpaid bills, mortgage payments and tax liens, ACG said. While no one has suggested publicly how Leibovitz got into such desperate financial straits, the mortgage debt on all her properties – including the townhouses in Greenwich Village and a sprawling estate in Rhinebeck, New York – totalled about $15 million.
ACG, which consolidated all her loans in September 2008, charged in its lawsuit that Leibovitz breached the contract by refusing to allow real estate experts into her homes to appraise their value and by blocking ACG from selling her photographs.
Leibovitz joined Vanity Fair in 1983. Over the years, her lens has captured the rich and famous: Barack Obama, the queen and Bruce Springsteen among them. She gave the world its first glimpse of baby Suri, newborn daughter of Hollywood’s superstar couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, on the cover of Vanity Fair. – (AP)