When Taschen asked today's leading portrait photographer, Annie Leibovitz, to compile her photographs into a SUMO-sized book, she was intrigued by the challenge. The project took several years to complete and when it was finally published in 2014, it weighed 26 kg. This extraordinary photo collection is now available in an accessible XXL book format.
Leibovitz drew on more than 40 years of work, beginning with the photojournalism she did for Rolling Stone magazine in the 1970s to the conceptual portraits she created for Vanity Fair and Vogue. She selected iconic images - such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono entwined in a final embrace - as well as portraits that had rarely or never been seen before.
The Annie Leibovitz SUMO covered political and cultural history, from Queen Elizabeth II and Richard Nixon to Laurie Anderson and Lady Gaga.
"What I had initially thought of as a simple process of figuring out what looked good in large format, what pictures would work in a large format, became something else," Leibovitz says. "The book is very personal, but the story is told using popular culture. It's not arranged chronologically and it's not a retrospective. It's more of a roller coaster."
Fans of Leibovitz and her many celebrated subjects can now enjoy that same roller-coaster ride themselves with this unlimited edition.
Specifications
Author: Graydon Carter
Publisher: Taschen
Size: 286 x 402 x 57 mm
Size: 556 pages
Weight: 5885 grams
Language: English
Material: Hardcover
