Continuing saga of those women the Annie Leibovitz camera loves

Famed photographer launches another female-only gallery.

US photographer Annie Leibovitz (L) and UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti (R) pose in front of her work during a photocall to promote the exhibition "Women: New Portraits" by Annie Leibovitz in London on Janurary 13, 2016. The exhibition was commissioned by Swiss banking giant UBS and opens to the public on January 16, launching a 10-city international tour. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS -- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE, MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION, TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION

In 1999 the photographer Annie Leibovitz published the first iteration of what would prove to be a hugely popular project. For Women, a collaboration with her partner, Susan Sontag, the idea was that the subjects would have nothing in common other than that they were women.

They ranged from female rodeo riders, prostitutes and a maid to the artist Louise Bourgeois (looking like some kind of shaman), Hillary Clinton, the feminist writer Gloria Steinem, Elizabeth Taylor (with her dog, Sugar) and the Queen.

Now the bank UBS has commissioned Leibovitz to turn her camera on a new set of women. The 22 latest images are on display at Wapping hydraulic power station in east London, before embarking on an international tour. (The show will travel to cities such as Tokyo, San Francisco, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York and Zurich but no Australian dates have yet been announced.)

They are accompanied by some of the earlier images, both pinned up and displayed on a long loop on huge, high-definition screens. Among these are a selection of rarely or never before seen images chosen by Leibovitz, whose ability to edit is clearly not her strong point.

Perhaps because she’s only just started, or perhaps because UBS wanted something a bit glam, the other thing that all the newly photographed women have in common is that they are very obviously notable.

The list includes Burmese leader-in-waiting Aung San Suu Kyi, actress Lena Dunham, artist Kara Walker, Facebook executive Cheryl Sandberg, comedian Amy Schumer, dancer Misty Copeland and pop star Taylor Swift (whose portrait, incongruously clutching her guitar in a misty garden, is one of the weakest).

The closest you get to an “ordinary” woman is Denise Manong, a paediatric AIDS healthcare worker in South Africa, pictured hugging her daughter Linamandla.

Steinem describes Leibovitz’s portraits as novels. This is overstating it, in some cases. Though her best are undeniably brilliant (the shot of Adele at the piano is one of the best I’ve seen of the singer), Leibovitz is not consistent and few of these images match the fascination of those that kicked off the whole thing — a set of paired pictures of casino performers before and after their stage transformations.

Leibovitz says this is a work in progress, and notes with the names Malala, Marina Abramovic and “Venus and Serena” sit in place of three pictures yet to be taken.

Great, but I’d like to see a few more women such as Manong and her daughter.

The Times