After months of waiting, Annie Leibovitz finally launched her hotly-anticipated exhibition “WOMEN: New Portraits” yesterday in London, ahead of its public opening on Saturday.

The roster of outstanding women featured in the second iteration of the series— which began in 1999 in collaboration with Leibovitz’s late partner Susan Sontag—is sensational.

Important personalities such as Queen Elizabeth II, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Venus and Serena Williams (who also posed for her 2016 Pirelli calendar), primatologist Jane Goodall, feminist Gloria Steinem, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and ballerina Misty Copeland have all been captured by Leibovitz, as well as pop-culture celebrities like the actress Amy Schumer with her sister Kim Caramele, the singer Taylor Swift, and Caitlyn Jenner.

Leibovitz famously shot Jenner’s first portraits as Caitlyn for Vanity Fair, photos later appropriated by aspiring artist Miley Cyrus.

Annie Leibovitz with her children, Sarah, Susan and Samuelle Rhinebeck, New York, 2015.
Photo: ©Annie Leibovitz.

After its debut at London’s Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, where it will be on display until February 7, 2016, the exhibition “WOMEN: New Portraits” will tour to Tokyo, San Francisco, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Istanbul, Frankfurt, New York, and Zurich over the next 12 months.

Interestingly, though, the exhibition at this stage is still a work in progress, and will expand throughout the coming year as Leibovitz photographs prominent women in each of the host cities. And Leibovitz certainly has a top figure on her bucket list: German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Konrad Rufus Müller, Angela Merkel.
Photo: Courtesy WERKHALLEN I OBERMANN I BURKHARD.

“She’s probably the most important woman in the world today,” Leibovitz told reporters in London yesterday, according to AFP.

During the presentation in London, Leibovitz also remembered one of the city’s most creative and revered citizens: the legendary David Bowie, who sadly passed away at 69 this past Sunday in New York after a battle with cancer.

“When someone that great passes, I just lament that I didn’t have that opportunity,” she said, regretting not having photographed the iconic musician, actor, and painter.

Annie Leibovitz, “WOMEN: New Portraits” will be on view from January 16 – February 7 at the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station in London. Access is free to the public.