Herb Ritts
dal 13/5/2011 al 1/7/2011
Segnalato da
13/5/2011
Herb Ritts
Camera Work Gallery, Berlin
The exhibition shows more than 50 photographs that will give a comprehensive insight into the work of Ritts, who passed away in 2002. All of the photographs were developed during the artist's lifetime. Among the exhibited portraits one can find names such as Madonna, Mick Jagger, Dustin Hoffman, David Bowie, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, and Cindy Crawford.
CAMERA WORK is pleased to present photographs from Herb Ritts starting May 14,
2011. More than 50 photographs will give a comprehensive insight into the work of
Herb Ritts, who passed away in 2002. All of the exhibited photographs were developed
during the artist’s lifetime.
In the 1980s and the 1990s, the autodidact worked together with nearly every
superstar. Among the exhibited portraits one can find names such as Madonna, Mick
Jagger, Dustin Hoffman, David Bowie, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, and
Cindy Crawford. Thanks to his unique vision, distinctive portraits as well as very
aesthetic nude photographs came into existence. His great sensitivity and his stylistic
confidence with regard to the usage of strict forms, creating a monumental sensuality,
enabled Herb Ritts to create timeless icons and to influence a whole generation of
photographers with his innovative picture language.
Sand, sea, sky, and often baleful, dramatic shadows are the backgrounds against
which Herb Ritts stages his perfect light sculptures. His pictures often originated in
the surroundings of Los Angeles, where he grew up as a neighbor of actor Steve
McQueen. With formal rigor and subtle eroticism, the »master of the lascivious pose«
composed black and white pictures of distinctive elegance.
Within a very short time, Herb Ritts attained the legendary status of a fashion-,
celebrity-, portrait- and nude photographer. His, at first, private pictures of a young,
still relatively unknown Richard Gere, bursting of strength while changing a tire helped
establish the photographer’s career as icon photographer of the pop culture.
After Gere had his international breakthrough with »Days of Heaven« in 1978, Vogue
as well as Mademoiselle requested and published those pictures. The photographs
were a sensation and were met with great enthusiasm due to their powerful aesthetic.
This is said to have laid the foundation for his international career.
Fair, and Interview with his fashion productions of the 1980s and 1990s. His
advertising campaigns for brands such as Calvin Klein, Armani, and Gap were
instantaneously memorable. But music videos for artists such as Madonna, Michael
Jackson, Janet Jackson, Shakira, and particularly Chris Isaak’s legendary video
„Wicked Game“, too, belong to his unprecedented work.
Attached you will find press photographs which you can use for publication purposes.
A right to use these press photographs for publication can only be granted in
connection with a reference to the exhibition at CAMERA WORK along with the
corresponding credits and captions. In addition, CAMERA WORK explicitly points out
that the photographic material may in no way be altered or cropped.
Image: Mask, Hollywood, 1989 © Herb Ritts Foundation
For more press informations:
Jan Ole Eggert tel 030-31007745 or e-mail at presse@camerawork.de
Opening saturday 14th may 2011
Camera Work Gallery
Kantstrasse 149 - Berlin
Opening hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m
Admission free