The Portraits of Putin
How an iconic portrait became a symbol of protest.
“I was about an inch and a half from Putin's nose, I could feel his breathing on my hand.”
On December 12, 2007, Platon photographed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the cover of TIME. More than fifteen years later, it remains one of the most singular portraits of a world leader ever made. The menacing, cold image transcends photography - it has become a symbol.
Putin, the “Tsar of The New Russia,” was TIME’s Person of the Year in 2007. Platon photographed him at Putin’s private residence outside of Moscow.
“There were snipers everywhere,” Platon wrote in The Guardian in 2008, “it was like a scene from a cold war movie.”
In another portrait, used inside the TIME Person of the Year issue, Platon used the chair from behind Putin’s desk. “His favourite,” Platon said.
There are definite echoes of Platon’s famously-low-angled portrait of President Bill Clinton for Esquire in 2000. The mood is drastically different, however. Great ties.
The photo of Putin in his “favourite” chair was also nicely used on the cover of Steven Lee Myers’ 2014 book, The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin.
“I had to wait for about eight and a half hours in this room and I was given Kremlin tea and KGB biscuits and a dry sandwich,” Platon recalled in this interview from 2008, after his portrait of Putin won a World Press Photo award.
In 2013, Platon gave a talk at the WIRED Business Conference. Before the shoot, Platon asked Putin, "I'm a massive Beatles fan, are you?"
Putin responded, "I love the Beatles."
Platon then asked Putin his favorite Beatles song. "Yesterday." he replied.
That moment of levity allowed Platon to get close to Putin, and helped him capture the “cold, authoritative glare of power.”
“This is the face of the KBG,” Platon added.
Soon after the iconic portrait of Putin was published in TIME, opposition groups started using the image in protests all over the world. Like these by Toala Olivares (Amsterdam, 2013) and Luka Dakskobler (Ljubljana, 2022).
Platon's portrait of Putin even shows up in the outstanding documentary by Daniel Roher, Navalny. It’s on the Oscars Shortlist for Best Documentary Feature Film (I think it’ll win).
One of my favorite appropriations of Platon's portrait is by the artist Pablo el Terrible, made in 2013 for Putin A Rainbow. This illustration is on Russia’s official list of extremist materials.
Putin was also named Person of the Year by The Advocate in 2014, who called him the “single greatest threat to LGBTs in the world.” Creative Director David Gray turned a pretty standard wire photo by Getty photographer Junko Kimura into something special.
There are only a handful of other formal portraits of Putin. French photographer Stéphane Lavoué made this piercing image of Putin in Paris for Le Monde in 2008.
Lavoué recently told Le Télégramme, “He’s not pretending. One can find it icy, but with hindsight, I find that it exudes a certain melancholy.”
I picked up Stéphane's portrait of Putin for the cover of TIME in 2013 when I was the international picture editor. The Telegraph magazine also published his photo. As did Vanity Fair in 2008 (nice hed).
However, the most widely published is the official portrait from the Kremlin.
French collage artist Matthieu Bourel created a stunning illustration using this image for The New York Times in 2018.
The Italian photographer Davide Monteleone photographed Putin for Le Monde on the fly in 2012. Monteleone told me he was supposed to get time to shoot a portrait, but Putin was upset by a reporter's question and abruptly left. “I asked him twice to look at the camera and he never did, not even blinked!”
While he wasn’t able to make a formal portrait, Monteleone was able to shoot this fascinating photo of Putin’s table set.
The most recent formal portrait of Putin is from 2016 by Jeremy Liebman for Bloomberg Businessweek. Liebman’s portrait has a completely different vibe from all the others and I dig it, especially with that hed. This is the international cover.
The domestic Bloomberg Businessweek ran Liebman's punch-flashed portrait of Putin. Surreal.
Liebman has more nice work from that shoot on his site. This one is my favorite and serves as a nice closer.
As always Patrick, excellent !