Book Description

Herb Ritts is one of the most notorious and successful photographers working today. The Los Angeles-based imagemaker has created portfolios for Vogue, Vanity Fair, and other magazines, done movie ads and music videos, and worked with fashion-world clients such as Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani. This sumptuous catalogue, published to accompany an exhibition at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in Paris, includes an interview with Herb Ritts. One hundred photographs, some previously unpublished, exemplify the rigorous, disconcerting work of one of the most remarkable photographers of the contemporary art, fashion, and entertainment worlds. Herb Ritts's subjects include Antonio Banderas, Sandra Bernhard, Louise Bourgeois,Charles Bukowski, William S. Burroughs, Francesco Clemente, Joseph Fiennes, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Gibson, Keith Haring, Stephen Hawking, Michael Jordan, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, B. B. King, Roy Lichtenstein, Ewan MacGregor, Nelson Mandela, Edward Norton, Robert Rauschenberg, Christopher Reeve, and Tina Turner. 94 duotone photographs. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Beautiful book. Great to own in memory of Herb Ritts.
Herb Ritts passed away on Dec 26 at the age of 50 from complications of pneumonia.

This book is a fabulous collection of his work (at a reasonable price). This book is a collection of black and white photographs by the fabulous fashion photographer.

The photographs are well printed and luscious. Herb Ritts' photographs will be sadly missed.

Beautiful coffee table book & conversation piece
I received this book as a gift. I can't tell you how many times at a party or get-together at our home someone has picked this up, and then it has become the topic of conversation. The book gets passed around the entire night because everyone wants to look at it, and once someone starts flipping through the pages they simply can't put it down because they want to look at every image. Several of the photos are of celebrities, but they are somewhat disguised. Example: Cindy Crawford made up as a man. It is fun to do a "double take" as you try to guess who some of the subjects are. As always, Herb Ritts' images are masterpieces. This was a wonderful gift.

A Mixed Bag of Photographs
This catalogue of the retrospective of Ritts' work in the mid 90's at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by its very nature has a lot of photographs that are included in previous volumes: many of the nudes, the African photos, the series called Duo and "celebrity portraits." Unlike many celebrity photographers, Ritts was able to create photographs that rarely if ever are duplicates of either his or other artists' work. You get a good sense of that from looking at all of the small copies of all the photos published at the end of this volume. That is no small accomplishment. Many of the nudes and/or erotic photographs have been around for so long and reproduced so often that they have almost become cliches. For example, the series of "Fred With Tires." These show up in calendars, refrigerator magnets, posters ad nauseam. The nine photographs of Bill T. Jones, one of which graces the cover of this hefty volume, should be called "Eunuch, I-IX." The poor man has been castrated by the stroke of an airbrush. I assume we are politically rather than anatomically correct here. This show was clearly no repetition of the Mapplethorpe Exhibit in Cincinnati!

Celebrity photographs are often just that. They are interesting only if you know the model. A fine portrait photographer can shoot someone we do not know and make that person interesting to us. Many though certainly not all of Ritts' photos rise to that level. For that reason, he will always be revered as an artist. I would put the photos of Whoopi Goldberg, William Burroughs and Mike Ovitz in that category, to name three. Even if we did not know who these people are, Ritts makes us want to know them. Proof of this, at least for me, is that I was mesmerized by the photo of Ovitz and didn't have the slightest idea initially of who he was. These photographs are intriguing and draw the viewer in. Finally, for my money, the three incomparable shots of Eunice Kennedy Shriver are simply the best portraits in the book. The first time I leafed through this volume, these fantastic shots jumped out at me.

I treasure my signed copy of another of Ritts' books. I'm sorry that he will never take another photograph.

Amazing
Although, sadly, Herb Ritts has passed away I'm sure he'll be remembered as one of the greatest celebrity photographers ever. With that being said, I'll admit that I am NOT a Hollywood-glam-celebrity fanatic, and I hate public obsession with celebrities. However, I will admit my admiration of Herb Ritts' introverted and sophisticated images of Hollywood identities. I keep my copy of "Herb Ritts: Work" next to the wild and outgoing "Lachapelle Land" by David Lachapelle, which together show an interesting contrast in approach to celebrity photography.

The first third of the book is comprised of Herb Ritts' nudes and "unearthly" abstract nudes, most of them photographed in the 1980's. The remaining are photographs in Africa and his famous artist and celebrity portraits. One of my favorite photos is of photographer/sculptor Joel-Peter Witkin with his son, a rather down-to-earth and affectionate portrayal of such a "macabre-oriented" artist.

I was always intimidated by the price of this book, but I knew I had to have it. Luckly, I got a new 1st ed. copy for about thirty-bucks with online auction (I'm sure the seller was hitting himself on the head with it). However, I would've WELL paid $135+ on this as it is one of the most well-bound luxurious photography books I've seen. The book itself is finely printed, and I would definately recommend adding this "essential" to any monograph book collection.

Herb Ritts: Work
I was mesmorized by this book! Herb Ritts has the ability to not ownly create a beautiful portrait, but to capture I personality of his models. Each photograph tells a fabulous story of fantasy, glamour, and often just everyday life. I would highly recommend this collection. Among my favorite celebrity photos: Johnny Depp on the set of Edward Scissorhands, Jim Carrey dressed as a Mermaid, Tom Cruise on the set of Mission Impossible 2, the tattooed arm of Axle Rose, and a mysterious grin by Roy Lichtenstein. These photos are also large enough (most are at least 8x10) to remove and frame. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

general information
i would like to know a general information : the weight of the product that we select is charged on the shiping rates? Cause i leave in POrtugal so i need to know if the rates that you have are for all the weight or not. I would like to get Century By Bruce Bernard which is very heavy. Can you give me this information? my e-mail adress Zemarcelino@hotmail.com THank you for your kind attention. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The human form as it should be seen, beautiful and strong
In my own work, these books are among the most influential I have ever seen. Herb Ritts is truly one of my personal idols, and the reason for that is evident upon opening the cover of either of the books in this two book set. His images of the human form reveal more than just its nudity, but also its beauty, and strength. Some of the models would qualify as "supermodels", some are less well known, but all are prime examples of the healthy, beautiful human form. Review by Edward Lynn, student of commercial photography, The Art Institute of Seattle ... Read more