When Benedikt 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 develop, and when it was finally published in 2014, it weighed 26 kg (57 lbs).
This incredible 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 and continuing through conceptual portraits for Vanity Fair and Vogue. She selected iconic images, such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono locked in a final embrace, as well as portraits that had rarely, if ever, been seen before.
Annie Leibovitz's 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 imagining what looked good on a large scale, what photographs would work in a large format, turned into something more, Leibovitz says. The book is very personal, but the narrative is told through popular culture. It's not ordered chronologically and it's not a retrospective. It's more like a roller coaster ride.
Fans of Leibovitz and her many celebrated tracks can now enjoy the same rollercoaster ride with this unlimited edition.
