GIFT BOOKS IN BRIEF : ANNIE LEIBOVITZ: Photographs 1970-1990 <i> (HarperCollins: $60).</i>

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Annie Leibovitz has been flattered thousands of times. The lush, color-saturated style of portrait photography for which she has become famous (her excellent black and white notwithstanding) is widely imitated by other photographers. Her work is set apart by a certain brilliance born of someone who, with a razor-sharp eye hot-wired to their brain, is able to hold a lens to her subjects so that they may be seen as never before. The photographs are honest, and don’t pander or resort to cheap flattery.

Although one can imagine that Leibovitz might sometimes need sheer force of will to get her subjects to collaborate with her (as with Lauren Hutten lying sensually in the mud), the resulting photographs never seem exploitative. She betrays an undercurrent of respect, often bathed in wit, no matter how sharply the results cut to their essence.

This book contains some fine examples of Leibovitz’s early photojournalistic work, much in black and white, from her early days at Rolling Stone. From this we can see her powers of observation as the seeds for her current work. There is, in addition, a selection from the very successful American Express ad campaign.