Vanity Fair portraits of White House leaders hoped to cut through ‘political theater.’ Instead they drew snickers online
Photographer reveals motive behind Vanity Fair White House portraits
- Photographer Christopher Anderson has spoken out about his close-up portraits of Trump administration officials for Vanity Fair that many people online labeled a “jump scare.”
- The photos featuring prominent figures like White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio show every freckle, line, strand of hair and makeup smudge.
- Anderson said the style is consistent with his previous work, telling The Independent, “Very close-up portraiture has been a fixture in a lot of my work over the year. Particularly, political portraits that I’ve done over the years. I like the idea of penetrating the theater of politics.”
- He added, “I know there’s a lot to be made with, ‘Oh, he intentionally is trying to make people look bad’ and that kind of thing – that’s not the case. If you look at my photograph work, I’ve done a lot of close-ups in the same style with people of all political stripes.”
- Anderson said he photographed each member of the administration the same way, but “found it interesting to be even closer” to Leavitt, whose portrait captured significantly more attention than any of the others posted on Vanity Fair’s Instagram.