‘WOMEN: New Portraits’ A Global Tour Of New Photographs By Annie Leibovitz Launches In London

Commissioned By UBS, The Exhibition Opens To The Public On 16 January At Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, Kicking Off A 10-City World-Wide Tour. Access To The Exhibition Will Be Free.

‘WOMEN: New Portraits’ an exhibition of newly commissioned photographs by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz will open to the public on Saturday 16 January 2016 at Lonodn’s Wapping Hydraulic Power Station. Following London, the exhibition will travel to Tokyo, San Francisco, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Istanbul, Frankfurt, New York and Zurich, in the course of the next 12 months. Access will be free to the public.

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 evolve over the coming year as Leibovitz photographs women in each of the host cities and regions.

American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Misty Copeland, New York City, 2015 © Annie Leibovitz from WOMEN: New Portraits

The new portraits to be unveiled in London 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 In addition to the new photographs, the exhibition includes work from the original series, as well as other unpublished photographs taken since. A set of the new photographs from the exhibition will enter the UBS Art Collection – one of the world’s most important corporate collections of contemporary art, comprising more than 30,000 works.

On the occasion of the launch of the new exhibition, 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”.

Annie Leibovitz WOMEN: New Portraits exhibition commissioned by UBS. Wapping Hydraulic Power Station. 16 January – 7 February. Pictured: Annie Leibovitz and Sergio P. Ermotti, Group CEO, UBS (C)Peter Macdiarmid (PRNewsFoto/UBS)

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. She has been designated a Living Legend by the United States Library of Congress.

Aligned with the focus UBS places on education, a series of free learning programmes 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. In London UBS are partnering with The Photographers’ Gallery to present free family workshops for the duration of the exhibition run, and with Central St Martins on a workshop for their photography students.

A Teachers’ Guide produced in partnership with the International Center of Photography in New York and a Children’s Activity Guide are available on the exhibition website. UBS will also present a talks programme, ‘Women for Women‘ through 2016. Launching in March in San Francisco, these events will accompany the exhibition tour and will address topics of global relevance to women and women’s rights.

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

http://www.ubs.com/art

WOMEN: New Portraits Annie Leibovitz

Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, © Guy Montagu-Pollock 2015

London: Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, Wapping Wall, London E1W 3SL.

16 January – 7 February 2016

Monday – Sunday 10am – 6pm, Friday Lates until 8pm.

www.ubs.com/annieleibovitz

THIRTEEN’s American Masters Tells the Story of Legendary Bluesman B.B. King During Black History Month on PBS

B.B. King: The Life of Riley Premieres Nationally Friday, February 12 at 9 p.m. (check local listings)

Features interviews with Bono, Eric Clapton, Aaron Neville, John Mayer, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, Ringo Starr, and more

B.B. King, born Riley B. King, was one of the most influential and celebrated blues musicians of all time. From his roots as a sharecropper’s son, working in the cotton fields of Mississippi, he rose to become a living legend — the most renowned blues singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer of the past 40 years — earning the moniker ‘King of the Blues‘. King’s story of struggle and triumph is chronicled in American Masters: B.B. King: The Life of Riley, premiering nationwide during Black History Month on Friday, February 12 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listing). Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman narrates and appears in the film.

B.B. King performing on stage at the Royal Albert Hall. Photo: Kevin Nixon

Made with the full cooperation of The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi, B.B. King: The Life of Riley was filmed in locations across America, as well as the United Kingdom. Award-winning Producer/Director Jon Brewer worked on the film with King for two years. Filming was completed shortly before King passed on May 14, 2015.

The bio-doc explores King’s challenging life and career through candid interviews with the man himself, his family, longtime friends, and fellow music contemporaries such as Bono, George Benson, Eric Clapton, Aaron Neville, John Mayer, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, Ringo Starr, Johnny Winter, and more.

Born September 16, 1925 on a plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi, near Indianola, King was raised by his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr in nearby Kilmichael. After she died, his father brought him to live in Lexington. There, for the first time, King experienced segregation. A mob hung a black boy and dragged him behind a car to the courthouse in Lexington. King witnessed the boy being dragged; it was an image he would never forget. Like so many blacks of his generation, King was subjected to bigotry, racism, hatred and denial. But he never allowed it to destroy his spirit or his music.

King candidly reminisces about memorable people in his life such as preacher Archie Fair, the first person he heard play an electric guitar; cousin Bukka White, who taught him about being a blues singer; the musical influence of bluesman T-Bone Walker and French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt; his stint as a disc jockey where his radio names (Beale Street Blues Boy and Blues Boy King) were eventually shortened to B.B. King; and how and why he came to name his guitars Lucille. A bittersweet moment in the film is King’s reflection on marriage. King had two wives, Martha Lee Denton, and then Sue Carol Hall. The failures of each marriage were attributed to King’s relentless touring schedule.

Rare archival footage is interspersed throughout the film, including his 1968 performance at Bill Graham’s Fillmore West where he was billed with some of the hottest rock stars, who idolized him and helped to introduce him to a young white audience.

Among the highlights from the film is footage of King’s collaboration with Bono, where King reveals that he “does not do chords,” and the story behind King and Eric Clapton‘s recording of Riding with the King. Though he made an exception for Clapton, King admits he doesn’t like to play acoustic guitar.

The ‘King of Blues,’ who delighted audiences around the world with such classic R&B hits as Three O’ Clock Blues, Paying The Cost To Be The Boss, Every Day I Have The Blues, and of course his most popular cross over hit, The Thrill Is Gone, died at age 89. The city of Memphis, where he had performed so many times, held a funeral procession for him down Beale Street, with a brass band marching in front of the hearse, playing When the Saints Go Marching In.

“Play the best that I can. Reach as many people as you can, as many countries,” says King. “In other words, I’d like the whole world to be able to hear B.B. King sing and play the blues.“

“B.B. King became America’s most recognizable and influential blues musician,” says Michael Kantor, executive producer of American Masters. “The thrill isn’t really gone yet – I think anyone who sees this film will be thrilled and inspired by this legendary artist.”

“American Masters,” THIRTEEN’s award-winning biography series, explores the lives and creative journeys of America’s most enduring artistic and cultural giants. With insight and originality, the series illuminates the extraordinary mosaic of our nation’s landscape, heritage and traditions. Watch full episodes and more at http://pbs.org/americanmasters. (PRNewsFoto/WNET)

The Peninsula New York Invites Guests To Celebrate Chinese New Year 2016 With Colorful Festive Experiences For The Whole Family To Savour

The Peninsula New York welcomes the Chinese New Year on Monday, February 8 with an enchanting season of home-style family experiences to bring joy and prosperity in the Year of the Monkey. Throughout February 2016, Chinese travelers, local residents and guests from around the world can ring in the Lunar New Year in time-honored tradition with a curated menu of authentic dining, events and promotions filled with Spring Festival customs and flavors.

Guests are welcomed in timeless style with hanging Chinese lanterns and fragrant red, yellow, pink and purple flowers decorating the lobby. Colorful lion dances, calligraphy activities and seasonal cooking classes will captivate guests of all ages. Good fortune and health are beckoned with themed in-room amenities, including red macarons iced with a New Year greeting in Chinese characters, Chinese confectionery boxes filled with Peninsula versions of seasonal candies and snacks, and lucky red envelopes containing gold chocolate coins. For guests unfamiliar with the cultural traditions of Spring Festival, a special Chinese New Year Guide in each room explains the unique customs that evoke good luck, health and prosperity for the Year of the Monkey.

Chinese New Year – Girl with Lantern

Families and friends can gather together and share a highlight of the Chinese New Year reunion festivities, the spectacular CCTV New Year’s Eve Show (春節聯歡晚會), featuring traditional music, entertainment and family fun from across China, which will be available in all guestrooms on February 7. The hotel’s chefs will prepare a Chinese New Year’s Eve room service menu of favorite main courses, desserts and snacks to add a heartwarming taste of home to in-room party celebrations.

Spring Moon’s Chinese New Year Pudding

The true taste of home makes Spring Festival feasting with family, friends and loved ones even more memorable. Special menus and auspicious dishes will be served at Clement Restaurant throughout the holiday, and The Peninsula New York’s talented chefs’ versions of traditional snacks, including crispy pork belly, steamed crab clay and egg white with fish broth, chicken congee with sliced abalone and beef tenderloin in a dark soy sauce with fried lo mein noodles. The celebrated Peninsula Afternoon Tea at Gotham Lounge is also re-imagined with delicious sweet and savory Chinese delicacies such as Peking duck buns, dim sum baskets, chicken spring rolls and mini crab wontons with sweet chili sauce, paired with a selection of Peninsula-branded teas.

Spring Festival is the perfect time to reinvigorate body and mind ready for the New Year ahead. Guests looking to celebrate can book the Bamboo Harmonizer Massage, a specialized massage combining traditional Chinese healing techniques with ESPA’s innovative new Optimal Body TriSerum to relieve muscular tension, firm and tone.

Many more Chinese New Year family gifts, treats and surprises await at The Peninsula New York to celebrate the most important festival of the Chinese calendar, and to welcome a new year blessed with health, happiness and prosperity.

Tommy John Relaunches Its Popular 360 Sport Performance Line

Tommy John, a company committed to addressing the “real problems men have with their undergarments”, has released its re-engineered, best-selling 360 Sport Perfromance collection. Featuring a Quick Draw® Fly which gives men quicker bathroom access when nature calls, Zoned Ventilation (mesh zones designed to wick, cool, and keep you dry during intense activity) and a Utility Pocket (for stashing your ID, keys, cash, cell phone, etc.), 360 Sport aims to upgrade men’s gym apparel with a dual performance underwear that can be worn from work to working out.

360 Sport performance underwear utilizes a proprietary 360-degree stretch fabric to prevent the leg bands from riding up and bunching during movement, while providing a comfortable, full range of motion.

Other features includes:

• Contour Pouch– Unmatched support, secure comfort, and lift

• Anti-microbial + Anti-odor Technology– Prevents the growth of odor causing molecules

• Stay Put Waistband– Won’t roll or leave marks

The Utility Pocket (for stashing your ID, keys, cash, cell phone, etc.) is a special feature of the newly re-designed 360 Sport Performance Collection from Tommy John.

Head stands and other exercises are easy when your “junk” stays firmly in place. The 360 Sport Performance Collection takes care of that.

“Men are light years behind women when it comes to dressing for the gym. Wearing cotton underwear to the gym is like a woman wearing her everyday bra to work out in.” said Tommy John Founder, Tom Patterson, a former medical salesman. “Now men no longer have to wear two different pairs of underwear on gym days and they don’t have to be an athlete or a trainer to enjoy the performance benefits of 360 Sport.”

The first successful product launched by Tommy John was a patented undershirt that stays tucked in, while eliminating excess fabric. Over time the company added underwear, socks, T-shirts and loungewear to its offerings. Each product contains proprietary fabrics, innovative fit and functionality that eliminate unnecessary adjustments, discomfort, untucking and bunching.

The 360 Sport Underwear Collection is available in 2 styles; Boxer Brief ($34), and Trunk ($31). All Tommy John products can be found at Nordstrom, in over 100 premium men’s stores, and online at https://www.tommyjohn.com/