Herbert Ritts (August 13, 1952 – December 26,
2002) was an American
fashion
photographer who concentrated on
black-and-white photography and portraits in
the style of classical
Greek sculpture.
Consequently some of his more famous pieces are of male and female
nudes in what can be called
glamour
photography.
Biography
Early life and career
Born in
Los Angeles,
California
, Ritts began his career working in the family
furniture business. He moved to the East Coast to attend Bard College
in New York, where he majored in economics and art
history. Later, while living in Los Angeles, he became
interested in photography when he and friend
Richard Gere, then an aspiring actor decided to
shoot some photographs in front of an old jacked up Buick. The
picture gained Ritts some coverage and he began to be more serious
about photography.
Later notable photographs
Ritts was a celebrity photographer of the 1980s and 1990s . He
later photographed notables such as,
Christopher Reeve,
Dalai Lama,
Cher,
Elizabeth Taylor,
Ronald Reagan,
Steven Hawking,
Edward Norton,
Madonna,
Dizzy Gillespie,
Annette Benning,
Cindy Crawford, and many others. He worked
for the magazines,
Interview,
GQ,
Harper's Bazaar,
Rolling Stone,
Vogue,
Vanity Fair and
Elle. He published many books on
photography for leading fashion designers including,
Giorgio Armani,
Revlon,
Ralph Lauren,
Chanel,
Gianni Versace
and
Calvin Klein. From 1996 to 1997
some of his work was displayed at the Museum of Fine Arts in
Boston, Massachusetts, attracting more than 253,000 people to the
exhibit.
Music videos
The first video he directed was
Madonna in,
Cherish in 1989.In 1991, he won two
MTV Video Awards for his work on
music videos by
Janet Jackson and
Chris Isaak. Ritts also directed the
music video for
Michael Jackson's
"
In the Closet", which featured
supermodel
Naomi Campbell. Ritts also
worked on other projects including directing and acting, on
Mariah Carey's 1# Video
(1999),
Jennifer Lopez sepia
video
Ain't It Funny ,
Janet Jackson: Design
of a Decade 1986-1996 (1996),
Intimate Portrait: Cindy
Crawford (1998) and
Murder in the First (1995).
Death
He died in 2002 at the age of 50 from complications caused by
AIDS.
Commercial
Herb Ritts Commercial: chronology
- 1988:
Parco
"Quarttro" with Tatjana
Patitz
- 1990: Rochas "Femme" "Globe"
- 1990: Lancôme "Rouge Absolut" with
Isabella Rossellini
- 1991: Calvin Klein Escape "Water
Ski" "Horse" "Pool" "Sailboat" with Shana Zadrick
- 1991: NEC with Ryuichi Sakamoto
- 1992: Levi's Loose Fit
Jeans "Wind" "Earth" "Water" "Movement" "Light" "Shorts" "Wave"
"Parachute" "Fire" "Premiere" "Sunny Beach" "Collage" "Co-op Land"
"Co-op All Star"
- 1992: Levi's Loose Fit
Jeans "Flag" "Stone Wheel" "Red Stripes" "Poles" "Pyramids"
"Climbers" "Fort Window" "Big Ball" "Nadege's Shorts" "Winter
Shorts" "Loose Fit Ninety"
- 1992: Levi's Dockers
"Grey" "Green" "Tan" "Brown" "Blue" "Black" "Green Shorts" "Tan
Shorts" "Blue Shorts"
- 1992: Guess Perfume "Café -
Women" "Cafe - Men's" with Claudia
Schiffer
- 1992: Calvin Klein "Marky Mark"
with Mark Wahlberg and Kate Moss
- 1992: Revlon "Charlie" with Cindy Crawford and Little Richard
- 1993: Brut "Aquatonic A" with
Helena Christensen
- 1993: Guy Laroche "Horizon" with
Beri Smither
- 1993: Paul Mitchell
"Seasons" "Earth" with Eloise DeJoria
- 1993: Vittel Water "Living
Sculpture" with Beri Smither
- 1993: Acura "NSX - Handmade" "Comfort"
"Quality" "Premium"
- 1994: Revlon Flex "Lighten Up" with
Claudia Schiffer
- 1994: Revlon "Kiss Proof" with Cindy Crawford
- 1994: Revlon "Defy It" with Melanie Griffith
- 1994: Donna Karan "DKNY Men" with
Peter Fortier
- 1994: Chanel "Allure" with Karen,
Leticia, Linda, Irene, Jamie, Basia, Nadege, Emma
- 1994: Paul Mitchell
"Desert" with Eloise DeJoria
- 1994: Cartier "Pasha"
with Lara Harris, Tatjana
Patitz.
- 1995: Häagen-Dazs "Shall We"
with Tatjana Patitz
- 1995: Elizabeth Arden "Black
Pearls" with Elizabeth Taylor
- 1995: CoverGirl "True Advance" with
Helena Christensen
- 1996: Revlon "Won’t Fade Away" with
Cindy Crawford
- 1996: Victoria's Secret with
Helena Christensen, Dennis Rodman, Vendela, Katey
Segal, Salt-n-Pepa, Naomi Campbell
- 1997: Victoria's Secret with
Helena Christensen
- 1997: Revlon Ultima "That's The Ultimate"
with Kim Delaney
- 1997: Victoria's Secret
"Angels" with Tyra Banks, Stephanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Helena Christensen, Daniela Pestova, Tom Jones
- 1998: Revlon "Liquid Sexy" with Shania Twain
- 1998: Chanel "Allure" Kiara, Chandra North, Mackie, Beri Smither, Tara Westwood, Meilan, Elisabet
Davidsdottir, Daniela Pestova,
Shirley Mallman
- 1998: Elizabeth Arden "White
Pearls" with Burt Reynolds
- 1998: Revlon Ultima II "Beauty is as
Beauty Does" "Wisdom" with Cybill
Shepherd
- 1998: Revlon "Wake-Up" with Halle Berry
- 1999: Maybelline "Triple Volume" with
Christy Turlington
- 1999: Eau De Rochas "Man and Woman"
Manon von Gerkan
- 1999: Vidal Sassoon "Vidal"
"Follower vs. Leader" "Standard Vs. State of the Arts" "Art vs.
Science" with Vidal Sassoon
- 1999: Revlon "Looks That Last" with
Shania Twain, Cindy Crawford
- 1999: Maybelline "Mascara Love" with
Sarah Michelle Gellar
- 2000: Elizabeth Arden "White
Diamonds" with Elizabeth
Taylor
- 2001:
Estée
Lauder
"Advance Night Repair" with Carolyn Murphy
- 2001: Elizabeth Taylor "United
for America" Public Service Announcement
- 2001: Revlon "Choices" with Halle Barry
- 2001: Maybelline "Wet Shine Nails"
with Sarah Michelle
Gellar
- 2002: Victoria's Secret "New
Angels" with Gisele Bündchen,
Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio
- 2002: Victoria's Secret "Sexy
Support" with Tyra Banks
- 2002:
Estée
Lauder
"Beautiful" "Pleasures" "Intense" with Carolyn Murphy
Music videos
Herb Ritts Music Videos: chronology
Actor filmatography
Herb Ritts Actor fimatography: chronology
- 1993: Intimate
Portrait, episode: Cindy Crawford, as himself
- 1995: Murder in the First,
as Mike Kelly
- 1997: Behind the Music, episode
6: Imagemakers, as himself
- 2001: Diary, episode 8:
Diary Of Britney Spears, as himself
- 2001: The Ellen Show, episode 4:
Vanity Hair, as the photographer
- 2002: Making the Video, episode
86: Underneath Your Clothes, as himself
Books
Herb Ritts books: chronology
- Pictures, Twin Palms Publishers, 1988
- Men/Women, Twin Palms Publishers, 1989
- Duo, Twin Palms Publishers, 1991
- Notorious, Little, Brown and Company/Bulfinch Press,
1992
- Africa, Little, Brown and Company/Bulfinch Press,
1994
- Work, Little, Brown and Company/Bulfinch Press,
1996
- Herb Ritts, Fondation Cartier Pour L'art Contemporain,
1999
External links