Annie Leibovitz is most renowned for her legendary celebrity portraits, thanks to which she gained worldwide popularity and is now considered one of the most influential photographers of our time.
The Whoopi Goldberg portrait is based on a character featured in
Whoopi's solo performance that took place in a small downtown
club in New York in 1984. The character, a young African-American
girl, attempts to appear white by immersing herself in Clorox.
Leibovitz filled a bathtub with warm milk for its visually whitening
effect. Leibovitz recalls that Whoopi sat back and suddenly they had
the shot. From her viewpoint, Whoopi remembers that it took seven
hours.
“ Years before it ever occurred to me that one could have a life as a photographer, I had become accustomed to looking at the world through a frame. „