UBS : 'WOMEN: New Portraits' by Annie Leibovitz to launch in Japan in February

Tokyo, January 18, 2016 - 'WOMEN: New Portraits,' an exhibition of newly commissioned photographs by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, will open to the public in Tokyo on February 20, 2016 at TOLOT /heuristic SHINONOME, as part of a 10-city global tour. The opening of the exhibition in Tokyo kicks off UBS's year-long celebration of its 50 anniversary of establishing operations in Japan.

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' will reflect the changes in the roles of women today and evolve over the coming year as Leibovitz photographs women in each of the host cities and regions.

The new portraits unveiled in London on January 13 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 In addition to the new photographs, the exhibition includes work from the original series, as well as other unpublished photographs taken since.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: 'It is extraordinary to do this work for UBS on a subject that I really care about. It is such a big undertaking and a broad subject, it is like going out and photographing the ocean.'

Sergio P. Ermotti, Group Chief Executive Officer, UBS, said: 'It's fantastic to be partnering with Annie on this project, which celebrates women, their strength and their role in bringing about positive change in the world. She is the best in her field and the tour builds on our long-standing support of initiatives which help shape contemporary culture.'

Aligned with the focus UBS places on education, a series of free learning programs will accompany the exhibition, presented in partnership with cultural organizations around the world. These initiatives will explore ways of seeing through photography, working with young people in local schools and communities. A Teachers' Guide produced in partnership with the International Center of Photography in New York and a Children's Activity Guide are available to teachers and the public on the exhibition website.

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 honors. 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. She has been designated a Living Legend by the U.S. 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 objects.

WOMEN: New Portraits
Annie Leibovitz

FREE entry

London:
Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, Wapping Wall, London E1W 3SL.
January 16 - February 7, 2016
Monday - Sunday 10am - 6pm, Friday Lates until 8pm
www.ubs.com/annieleibovitz

Tokyo:
Venue: TOLOT, 2F 2-9-13 Shinonome Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0062
Dates: February 20 -March 13, 2016

San Francisco:
The Presidio's Crissy Field, 649 Mason Street, San Francisco, 94129
Dates: March 25 - April 17 2016

The exhibition will additionally travel to Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Istanbul, Frankfurt, New York, and Zurich in 2016.

Join the conversation:
#WOMENxUBS by #AnnieLeibovitz
www.twitter.com @ UBSglobalart @ AnnieLeibovitz
www.facebook.com/UBSart
https://instagram.com/ubsglobalart/

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 Hofer; Pipolotti Rist; Cindy Sherman; and Sam Taylor Wood, amongst others. Recent acquisitions include work by Thomas Demand. 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

Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative: Under the Same Sun, Museo Jumex, Mexico City, until 7 February 2016.

Art Basel in Hong Kong, Lead Partner UBS, 24 - 26 March 2016.

Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative: Under the Same Sun, South London Gallery, London, opening June 2016.

Art Basel in Basel, Lead Partner UBS, 16 - 19 June 2016.

UBS Group AG

Media contact UBS
Mariko Eguchi: [phone]
Email: mariko.eguchi@ ubs.com

Media contact SUTTON
Noriko Yamakoshi: [phone]
Email: noriko@ intouchjapan.com

www.ubs.com