When
Benedikt Taschen asked the most important portrait photographer working today, Annie Leibovitz,
to collect her pictures in a
SUMO-sized book
, she was intrigued by the challenge. The project took several years to develop and when it was finally published in 2014, it weighed in at 26 kg (57 pounds).
This incredible collection is now available in an accessible XXL book format.
Leibovitz drew on more than 40 years of work
, starting with the photojournalism she did for
Rolling Stone
magazine in the 1970s
through the conceptual portraits she made for
Vanity Fair
and
Vogue
. She selected iconic images—such as
John Lennon and Yoko Ono
entwined in a last embrace—as well as portraits that had rarely, if ever, been seen before.
The Annie Leibovitz SUMO covered political and cultural history, from
Queen Elizabeth II
Richard Nixon
to
Laurie Anderson
Lady Gaga.
“What I had thought of initially as a simple process of imagining what looked good big, what photographs would work in a large format, became something else,” Leibovitz says.
“The book is very personal, but the narrative is told through popular culture.
It’s not arranged chronologically and it’s not a retrospective. It’s more like a roller coaster.”
Fans of Leibovitz and her many celebrated subjects can now enjoy that same roller coaster ride for themselves with this unlimited edition.