Herb Ritts

Born in Los Angeles, to a Jewish family,[2] Ritts began his career working in the family furniture business. His father, Herb Ritts Sr., was a businessman, while his mother, Shirley Ritts, was an interior designer. He moved to the East Coast to attend Bard College in New York, where he majored in economics and art history, graduating in 1975.[1]

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 Buick.[1] The picture gained Ritts some coverage and he began to be more serious about photography. He photographed Brooke Shields for the cover of the October 12, 1981 edition of Elle and he photographed Olivia Newton-John for her Physical album in 1981. Five years later he replicated that cover pose with Madonna for her 1986 release True Blue. That year he photographed Tina Turner for the album Break Every Rule.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Ritts photographed celebrities in various locales throughout California.[3] Some of his subjects during this time included musical artists. He also took fashion and nude photographs of models Naomi Campbell, Stephanie Seymour, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford, including "Tatjana, Veiled Head, Tight View, Joshua Tree, 1988."[4] Ritts' work with them ushered in the 1990s era of the supermodel and was consecrated by one of his most celebrated images, "Stephanie, Cindy, Christy, Tatjana, Naomi, Hollywood, 1989" taken for Rolling Stone.

He also worked for Interview, Esquire, Mademoiselle, Glamour, GQ, Newsweek, Harper's Bazaar, Rolling Stone,[3] Time, Vogue, Allure, Vanity Fair, Details, and Elle. Ritts took publicity portraits for Batman, Batman Forever, and Batman & Robin which appeared on magazine covers and merchandise throughout the 1990s. He published books on photography for various fashion designers.

From 1996 to 1997 Ritts' work was displayed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, attracting more than 250,000 people to the exhibit,[5] and in 2003 a solo exhibition was held at the Daimaru Museum, in Kyoto, Japan.

Ritts was openly gay. He was in a relationship with entertainment lawyer Erik Hyman from 1996 until his death in 2002.[6] His parents were accepting and supportive of his sexuality.[7]

Ritts was HIV-positive. He was first diagnosed in 1989, and used alternative herbal treatments to fight his condition. He never publicly disclosed his diagnosis.[8]

On December 26, 2002, Ritts died in Los Angeles from pneumonia at the age of 50.[9] According to Ritts' publicist, "Herb was HIV-positive, but this particular pneumonia was not PCP (pneumocystis pneumonia), a common opportunistic infection of AIDS. But at the end of the day, his immune system was compromised."[10]

• Pictures, Twin Palms, 1988
• Men/Women, Twin Palms, 1989
• Duo, Twin Palms, 1991
• Notorious, Little, Brown and Company/Bulfinch, 1992
• Africa, Little, Brown and Company/Bulfinch, 1994
• Work, Little, Brown and Company/Bulfinch, 1996
• Herb Ritts, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, 1999
• Herb Ritts L.A. Style, Getty, 2012

• Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, 2016.[11]
• Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, OH, 2015/16[12][13]
• Herb Ritts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, 2015[13][14]
• Herb Ritts: Super, Hamilton's Gallery, London, 2016/17[15]
• Herb Ritts: Super II, Hamilton's Gallery, London, 2017[16]

• Official website
• Herb Ritts on artnet Monographs
• Herb Ritts at IMDb
• Staley Wise Gallery: Herb Ritts collection