Herb Ritts: Work [Hardcover]

Herb Ritts (Author), Trevor Fairbrother (Contributor), Malcolm Rogers (Contributor), Richard Martin (Contributor), Steve Meise (Contributor), Ingrid Sischy (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0821222961 | ISBN-13: 978-0821222966 | Publication Date: November 1, 1996 | Edition: 1st

This retrospective presents the full range of photographer Ritts' work, with 240 signature images, many published for the first time. There are portraits of Hollywood stars, (Pfeiffer, Cruise, Loren) notable artists, (Hockney, Haring, Martin) and world leaders, (Reagan, Mandela, Gorbachev), alongside fashion shots, erotic nudes and African scenery. Appreciations by contemporary art experts and chroniclers of fashion put the work in context.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Exemplifying the blurring of lines between photojournalism, advertising, and art, these four collections of celebrity portraiture are less a record of high aesthetic achievement and more time capsules of the last decade's pop-culture infatuations. Observed side-by-side, the books highlight the photographers' individual styles and their strengths and weaknesses. Ritts's ability to capture his famous sitters' personalities at the height of expression reveal a self-consciousness in Corbijn's brooding, grainy portraits. But Ritts's Westonesque attempts at freezing the body as sculpture can seem pretentious next to LaChapelle's giddy, campy celebrations. Harkening back to the Hollywood photography of George Hurrell, Gorman's works stand apart for their simple elegance. The Gorman, LaChapelle, and Ritts books are all oversized and lavishly produced?perhaps a drawback, as the box LaChapelle is shipped in will be immediately discarded and the many fold-outs in Ritts will undoubtedly tear. Ultimately, these volumes will be of most interest to fans of the sitters. Art libraries should have the Ritts book?the official catalog of a controversial Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, retrospective?and the LaChapelle, whose vividly colorful works express the most individual style, if not depth. Public libraries that already have Ritts's last collection (Notorious, Bulfinch, 1992) can pass over this familiar work in favor of Gorman's genial portraits of today's stars.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Herb Ritts is in the top echelon of celebrity and fashion photographers today. His previous titles include Pictures, Notorious (Bulfinch, 1992), Men/Women, Duo, and award-winning Africa (Bulfinch, 1994). He lives in Los Angeles. Malcolm Rogers is the Ann and Graham Gund Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Trevor Fairbrother is the Beal Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Ingrid Sischy is a noted writer on contemporary art and fashion and is Editor-in-Chief at Interview magazine. Richard Martin is the curator of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Steven Meisel is a prominent fashion photographer whose images have appeared in major magazines worldwide.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 412 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch; 1st edition (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821222961
• ISBN-13: 978-0821222966
• Product Dimensions: 14.3 x 11.7 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,226,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful Black & White Imagery, July 14, 2000

By 

Luis Hernandez (New York, New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Herb Ritts: Work (Hardcover)

As an amateur photographer, I have always found Herb Ritts to be one of the greatest modern photographers living. Similiar to many celebrity photographers such as Richard Avedon, David LaChapelle, and Annie Liebowitz, Ritts captures the essence that is celebrity perfectly. Whether it is the photograph of Madonna and Sean Pean as a loving couple, or a gathering of today's top supermodels (all nude) Ritts has an eye for detail, as well as an approach few photographers nowadays don't utilize, direct communication with your subjects. In the past (and even in the present) celebrity photography can be a pain as many celebrities tend to want their agents around them whenever there is a shoot.

Many of Ritts photographs in this compilation happen to be of a homoerotic nature. Ritts, who is openly gay, captures the essence of male sexuality perfect, and the results can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of their orientation.

I hope in the future Ritts comes out with another huge compilation of his work. His recent work with such celebrities such as Monica Lewinsky and Janet Jackson should be published in a volume, but for the meanwhile, purchase this book for your coffee table or library. It will make an interesting topic of conversation with anyone. Ritts is pure genius!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IMPRESCINDIBLE, June 5, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Barcelona, SPAIN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Herb Ritts: Work (Hardcover)

Bello, imaginativo, innovador, sensual, versatil, ... son palabras apropiadas para describir el trabajo de Herb Ritts. Pero si un adjetivo debe ser aplicado a este último libro, ese es IMPRESCINDIBLE. Imprescindible no solo para todos los que seguimos la carrera de este fotógrafo americano, sino para todos los que piensan que la fotografia es también una forma de expresión artística. "Work" es el más completo recorrido posible por la obra de Ritts: desde sus audaces retratos de famosos para Vanity Fair o Rolling Stone hasta su inusual visión de Africa, desde la romántica sensualidad de "Duo" hasta sus cuasi arquitectónicas composiciones para los catalogos de Versace, sin dejar de lado, por supuesto, su siempre bello y sorprendente tratamiento del desnudo, tanto masculino como femenino. En definitiva: una autentica demostración de porqué Ritts es considerado uno de los mejores fotógrafos del mundo y una joya digna de figurar en cualquier biblioteca.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best book of RITTS ever published, April 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Herb Ritts: Work (Hardcover)

It realy honors the name of RITTS, a perfect book from a supreme photographer. It gives you a ride for almoust the best work of on his career. You need to have it.