Every year shortly before the Oscars, the US magazine “Vanity Fair” publishes its so-called “Hollywood Issue”. It is a homage to the hottest stars and creative minds in the film industry, because unlike usual, not just one celebrity adorns the cover, but a whole group. The idea for this was born in 1995 and for years there was only one photographer who perfected this type of staging: Annie Leibovitz.
The American began her career in the 1970s as a reportage photographer for Rolling Stone magazine. She has become known worldwide primarily for her portraits of well-known stars from the entertainment industry. Over the course of her career, Leibovitz created images that have become etched into collective memory, such as actress Demi Moore posing naked and pregnant in 1991. Or actress Whoopi Goldberg bathing in a tub of milk in 1984. Both recordings appeared in “Vanity Fair”, Leibovitz was one of the founding members of today’s US edition in 1981.
Taschen Verlag published a gigantic illustrated book with her work back in 2014. The sumo-sized book (69 x 50 cm) weighed a staggering 26 kilograms and was limited to 10,000 copies. The work is now available in an unlimited version that fits on every bookshelf. Nothing is lost from the fascination. The photographs by Annie Leibovitz fill more than 500 pages – and all the important protagonists of the past decades can be found on them. It is an impressive photographic journey through cultural history, from the 1970s to 2012.
Annie Leibovitz “SUMO” is in Taschen Verlag available and costs 125€