It’s not often that you find yourself booking a flight into Fayetteville to elevate your aesthetic senses. Turns out, there’s a good reason. With cranes and construction buzzing around Northwest Arkansas, this fall’s de rigueur weekend getaway is in nearby Bentonville, Arkansas (yes, that Bentonville, birthplace and headquarters of Walmart).
“Annie Leibovitz at Work” – a commissioned retrospective celebrating the famed photographer’s illustrious career – made its debut last weekend at the city’s renowned Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and it has North Texans eager to get to “the Natural State.”
It was Walmart heiress Alice Walton who opened the Moshe Safdie-designed Crystal Bridges museum in 2011 on what was once Walton family playground. Nestled on 120 acres of Ozark landscape, it’s as much an art museum as it is an homage to architecture. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House was moved from its original flood-emergent site in Somerset County, New Jersey, and reconstructed on the museum grounds overlooking Crystal Spring.
“Annie Leibovitz at Work” is the artist’s first major museum exhibition in a decade. That has several local Realtors ready to book their trips to Bentonville.
“Her work is legendary,” said Allie Beth Allman & Associates agent K.J. Murphy. “Annie Leibovitz is one of the most important photographers in the world. It’s a name you instantly recognize.”
Realtor Karen Nelson, also with Allie Beth, lauds Leibovitz’s celebrity portraiture. “She has the gift of capturing rare moments of vulnerability.”
Lauded Work
Leibovitz’s work has been impactful since day one. While still a student at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1970, Rolling Stone magazine hired her to shoot John Lennon for its cover. In the following years, she became Rolling Stone‘s chief photographer.
Leibovitz would go on to make a name for herself photographing some of the world’s most iconic figures, from Queen Elizabeth II to a seven-month-pregnant Demi Moore. Her work with Lennon would go full circle. One of her most famous images – the intimate portrait of John and Yoko – was taken on December 8, 1980, the day Lennon was murdered.
The new exhibition features 300 images from Leibovitz’s extensive portfolio in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, among others, and includes 30 new portraits commissioned by Crystal Bridges.
“They didn’t ask what I wanted to photograph or where I wanted to go,” Leibovitz told Vogue. “I realized that I wanted to update my work. It was an opportunity to do something that I couldn’t do for anyone else. The strength of my work is seeing the pictures together, like brothers and sisters. That’s what makes it interesting. It’s full of history.”
New portraits depict the likes of Brittney Griner, Stacey Abrams, Michelle Yeoh, Lil Nas X, and Kim Kardashian. There are also indelible moments in history like Watergate and the Apollo 17 launch. Even Alice Walton – the mastermind behind the exhibition – is in the mix.
“She was just a hoot, and you couldn’t keep up with her,” Leibovitz told Vogue. “She took us out to her lake house and drove us around in her boat.”
I, for one, am already booking my trip to Bentonville.
Where else can you see rock stars, film legends, queens, and presidents all in one place?
On view through January 2024, Annie Leibovitz at Work will premiere at Crystal Bridges before embarking on a four-city tour across the nation.
Bentonville is part of a burgeoning growth sector in Northwest Arkansas. In fact, the region’s rapid growth is putting it on pace with the population of Austin, Axios reported.
Read on for three super stylish places to stay during your trip – just what you’d expect in a town that in just over a decade went from rural small town to a growing cultural hotspot.
21c Museum Hotel
Everything about this hybrid art museum and boutique hotel located on the Bentonville town square oozes cool – think thought-provoking rotating art exhibits, custom furniture, and hotel rooms designed by acclaimed New York City-based TenBerke (formerly Deborah Berke Partners). Check out special packages like Dine with Art (which includes insider info on the best ways to experience Crystal Bridges) and Bikes and Brews.
The Bike Inn Bentonville
The neon sign out front says it all: Bike. Sleep. Repeat. Owners and outdoor enthusiasts Jeremy and Tiffany Rose transformed a 1950s-era roadside motel into a welcoming respite for adventure-seeking travelers in this self-professed mountain biking capital of the world. “We kept the nostalgia while building out a fresh new look that’s built around Community & Cycling,” according to the website. As such, visitors and media rave about it as one of the coolest places you’ll ever stay.
The Treehouse @ Whitehill & Pine
Sleep among the treetops in this luxury Airbnb located in nearby Fayetteville – a “whimsical world where gravity seems optional,” touts the listing. Suspended 25 feet above Goose Creek, the elevated treehouse features large windows, panoramic views, a Japanese soaking tub, and a spacious outdoor deck complete with a grill and wood-burning hot tub.
