Herb Ritts

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Herb Ritts (born August 13, 1952 in Los Angeles , California , † December 26, 2002 there ) was an American photographer . He mainly worked in the field of fashion photography . The majority of his works were classic black-and-white photos. One of his most famous works is the picture Fred with Tires ( English : Fred with tires ).

Life

Ritts taught himself most of his skills and expanded his knowledge in various courses. His first notable work was a picture of actor Richard Gere . Gere was a friend of Ritts' and was photographed by him while resting at a gas station. More pictures of him soon graced the covers of various magazines. In the 1980s and 1990s, Ritts worked for magazines such as Harper's Bazaar , Rolling Stone , Vanity Fair and Vogue .

In addition to his fashion series, Ritts made a name for himself with his repeatedly unusual portraits of personalities such as Kofi Annan , Cindy Crawford , the Dalai Lama , Madonna , Sir Elton John , Jack Nicholson and Elizabeth Taylor . Ritts had a particularly lively collaboration with Madonna for many years. He was initially responsible for the cover of Madonna's album True Blue . Ritts shot his first music video for Madonna's single Cherish . More followed for artists like Michael Jackson ( In the Closet ), Mariah Carey ( My All ), Chris Isaak ( Wicked Game ) or Janet Jackson ( Love will never do without you ).

In 1996 the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston showed over 230 works by Ritts for the first time in a museum exhibition. In 2007 the Boston MFA received a $ 2.5 million donation from the Herb Ritts Foundation and 189 photographs from the Ritts estate. In doing so, the museum established a permanent exhibition named after him, the Herb Ritts Gallery for Photography . The gallery is one of 53 new wings, opened in 2010, designed by Foster + Partners .

Ritts, who came out as homosexual in college , later contracted the HIV virus .

Ritts died on December 26, 2002 in Los Angeles of complications from pneumonia. His last work was a series of photos with Justin Timberlake and a series of pictures by actor Ben Affleck for the US magazine Vanity Fair .

Illustrated books

  • Herb Ritts , Fondation Cartier Pour L'art Contemporain (France), 1999
  • Work , Little, Brown and Company / Bulfinch Press, 1996
  • Africa , Little, Brown and Company / Bulfinch Press, 1994
  • Notorious , Little, Brown and Company / Bulfinch Press, 1992
  • Duo , Twin Palms Publishers, 1991
  • Pictures , Twin Palms Publishers, USA 1988 World 1989

Music videos (as a director)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Photo: Fred with tires ( Memento from February 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from May 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Spiegel: Pop icons for the ages
personal data
SURNAME Ritts, Herb
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American photographer
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California , USA
DATE OF DEATH December 26, 2002
Place of death Los Angeles , California , USA