Explore Albert Watson’s Decades-Long Career With This Tome

“Steve Jobs,” Cupertino, Calif., 2006

It’s difficult to condense Albert Watson’s illustrious output into a few words; but, if prodded, these descriptions might suffice: surprising, irreverent, kinetic, sleek, impactful, versatile. The sheer range in these adjectives betray the breadth of Watson’s practice, which spans nearly half a century of celebrity portraits, landscapes, nudes, still lifes, and fashion shoots. Thanks to Taschen, we’re now afforded an indelible glimpse into the photographer’s portfolio in Albert Watson: Kaos.

Spanning more than 400 pages, the volume celebrates Watson’s dynamic visual language, one that revolves around graphic, cinematic scenes that surprise in their intimacy, immediacy, and diversity. The book opens with the photographer’s breakthrough portrait of Alfred Hitchcock, shot for the 1973 Christmas edition of Harper’s Bazaar. In this image, the famed movie director glances at the camera with a baffled, almost resigned expression, his hand wrapped around a goose’s neck. At first, the photograph may strike us as provocative, but it also reveals Watson’s sense of humor and how he fought against photographic convention through his subject matter.

“It was nice for me to have Hitchcock as a subject because I was just out of film school, and I was very excited to do the project as this was a very nice commission,” Watson told PetaPixel in 2023. “Initially, they wanted Hitchcock, a gourmet chef, to hold the cooked goose on a plate, and I said it was better to hold the goose [by the neck] before cooking as though he strangled the goose.”

That sensibility is made even clearer as the book progresses, whether it be through striking photographs of Aaliyah, David Bowie, Joan Didion, Jennifer Lopez, and Andy Warhol; breathtaking shots of Scottish cliffs towering over the ocean; images of artifacts such as Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit; or dynamic editorials for major fashion magazines. Best of all, though, are the photographs that abandon expectation entirely. A 1992 portrait of Mick Jagger, for instance, showcases the musician’s face transformed into that of a cheetah’s, his cheeks obscured with spotted fur. An image of Dennis Rodman, on the other hand, sees the basketball player covered in gold leaf, his eyes glaring out from layers upon layers of foil.

“That was done for Rolling Stone,” Watson comments in the book. “The make-up artist knew how to apply real gold leaf, so of course [Rodman] loved that. He lay there for three hours while they covered him in paint.”

Aside from these more playful compositions, Kaos also gathers some of Watson’s most iconic images, including a 2006 portrait of Steve Jobs. Staring straight into the camera with his hand poised on his chin, Jobs is often remembered through this particular shot, reminding us that Watson’s legacy stretches far into public consciousness. Also familiar is his photograph for the 2005 film Memories of a Geisha, in which Zhang Ziyi dons red lipstick, thick eyeliner, and a solemn expression. Dozens of previously unpublished Polaroids, pulled directly from Watson’s personal archives, complete the book, offering a definitive overview of his decades-long career.

“People couldn’t get a handle on my work at the beginning, because I did so many different things,” Watson remarks. “It was only when my book Cyclops came out that it all came together, and people understood better what I did. I’ve done a lot of different images. There are landscapes, but also dominatrixes in front of refrigerators. I like the diversity, I enjoy it.”

Albert Watson: Kaos is available for purchase via Taschen’s website.