Legendary American photographer Annie Leibovitz is preparing to unveil her most comprehensive fashion photography exhibition to date at the MOP Foundation in A Coruña, Spain. The exhibition, titled "Wonderland," serves as both a celebration of her fashion work and what she describes as "a kind of swansong for her life in fashion." In a candid interview with Tim Blanks, the 76-year-old photographer reflected on her illustrious career, her relationship with late writer Susan Sontag, and her controversial recent Vogue cover featuring Timothée Chalamet.
The "Wonderland" exhibition, opening this week, represents a vast and comprehensive showcase of Leibovitz's fashion photography spanning decades. While not her largest exhibition ever, it feels monumental in scope and ambition. "I went into it reluctantly," Leibovitz admitted about her fashion work. "I basically had squirreled away the fashion work. It was the poor man on the totem pole of photography. It was like I was doing it not only for fun, but to support Anna Wintour, who's always supported me and all my portrait work."
The exhibition space itself - converted dockside warehouses owned by Inditex chair Marta Ortega Pérez - impressed Leibovitz during her initial visit. She found the venue filled with Irving Penn's work from the previous year's exhibition, which moved her deeply. "I was weeping as I walked through it because he was certainly an inspiration to me. The bar was raised, for sure," she said. Leibovitz follows in the footsteps of other photography legends who have shown at MOP, including David Bailey, Helmut Newton, Steven Meisel, and Peter Lindbergh.
The exhibition showcases a dramatic range of Leibovitz's work, from the black-and-white photographs that launched her career at Rolling Stone magazine to her elaborate fashion shoots for Vogue. "I threw everything but the bathroom sink in there," she explained. The show opens with a ten-foot-high wall of black-and-white images from her early days, including her iconic 1975 Rolling Stones tour photographs. "No better way to show what I was like as a young photographer than to show you the Stones tour in 1975," Leibovitz observed.
One of the most talked-about recent projects discussed was her controversial Timothée Chalamet cover shoot for Vogue's December issue - Anna Wintour's final issue as editor after 37 years. The shoot took place at Michael Heizer's "City," a monumental land art installation in the Nevada desert. Leibovitz called it "one of the hardest things I've ever done," describing the challenges of convincing the artist to allow the fashion shoot at his 50-year project. "It was 110 degrees, with no cloud cover. I thought it was important to say where we are right now. You know, it's been pretty dark in America," she reflected.
The Chalamet shoot generated significant social media backlash, with critics questioning the artistic choices and the actor's diminutive appearance against the vast landscape. When Leibovitz asked Wintour if they had "laid an egg," the longtime Vogue editor responded positively: "Annie, I love it, we love it, we're not looking back, we're just going for it. And she added, Don't read anything!" Leibovitz's loyalty to Wintour runs deep - she has stated that when Wintour leaves Vogue, she will leave too.
A significant portion of the interview focused on Leibovitz's 15-year relationship with writer Susan Sontag, author of the influential 1977 book "On Photography." Leibovitz credited Sontag with expanding her intellectual and cultural horizons. "I loved to hear her speak. I couldn't be mad at her too long, because she just was a great speaker," Leibovitz recalled. "She gave me a whole world of intelligence and knowledge, and she led by example." Despite Sontag's expertise in photography theory, the couple rarely discussed photography at home.
Sontag's influence extended to Leibovitz's most famous work, including the pregnant Demi Moore Vanity Fair cover. "I credit her for Demi Moore being on the cover of Vanity Fair, because she called Tina Brown and said, 'You really need to do this.' Even I didn't understand what we did when we photographed Demi Moore like that. She understood things that I just didn't understand. And I still don't understand properly," Leibovitz admitted.
The photographer's relationship with fashion evolved significantly over her career. Initially treating fashion photography as "playtime," she gradually came to respect designers as artists. Her collaborations with Grace Coddington at Vogue proved particularly fruitful. "Really, my best work is Grace Coddington. I didn't have to think about the fashion, she took over in that world," Leibovitz explained. She praised model Natalia Vodianova as "such a good actor" and "really important" to her fashion work.
Leibovitz's fashion photography often featured elaborate narratives inspired by fairy tales, creating fantastical scenarios that brought together celebrities, artists, and designers. Notable examples include a Wizard of Oz-themed shoot featuring Jasper Johns as the Cowardly Lion and Jeff Koons as the Tin Man, with Keira Knightley as Dorothy. Another memorable project cast major fashion designers in an Alice in Wonderland theme, with John Galliano as the Queen of Hearts and Jean Paul Gaultier as the Cheshire Cat.
Reflecting on the evolution of photography in the digital age, Leibovitz expressed a pragmatic acceptance of technological change. "I've never been that enamored with the technical aspect of photography. I mean, you have to kind of know what you're doing a little bit, but I've always felt that content is more important," she said. She acknowledged the challenges of digital editing but embraced the creative possibilities: "I sort of like learning to paint with it and not be embarrassed about it at all."
The photographer discussed her approach to portraiture, emphasizing her preference for showing people "themselves" and helping them "like themselves." She cited examples of subjects with strong self-awareness, from Queen Elizabeth II to Rihanna and Kate Moss. About Moss, she admitted: "I mean, a genius. I didn't realize till much later how manipulated I was. And I say that in a good way." She described the mysterious connection that occurs with certain subjects: "I can't even explain what goes on. Maybe it's magical."
As Leibovitz approaches what she considers a transition period in her career, she's making conscious decisions about her future work. "I know now why I want to leave fashion, and basically return to my portrait work," she stated. This isn't driven by time constraints, she insisted, but by a desire to focus on what matters most to her. She's begun creating a list of friends she hasn't yet photographed and continues documenting her children, despite their growing reluctance.
The "Wonderland" exhibition includes a section called "Stream of Consciousness," featuring work from the past decade that points toward her future direction. This includes portraits of creators she admires, often accompanied by images of their studios, as well as photographs of significant objects and places. Notable examples include Elvis Presley's television set with a single bullet hole and the top hat Abraham Lincoln was wearing when assassinated.
Looking back on her nearly 60-year career, Leibovitz sees her work as documenting an entire historical period through the people who lived it. "Obviously, it's not over yet. Which is why I don't feel like there's any kind of rush to the end here," she mused. However, she acknowledges the passage of time: "What's strange now is a lot of people that I photographed are dying. It definitely brings a lot of pause for thought about who we are, what we do, and what really matters."
The "Wonderland" exhibition at the MOP Foundation represents both a culmination of Leibovitz's fashion photography career and a stepping stone toward her future focus on portraiture. As she prepares for a major retrospective with the LUMA Foundation in Arles in the coming years, this Spanish exhibition serves as what she calls "a glorious kind of swansong for Annie Leibovitz's life in fashion." The show demonstrates not only her evolution as an artist but also her enduring commitment to photography as both documentation and art form.
