Recently I had the great Silver Lined opportunity to be in the home of a Herb Ritts collector. Original photographs hung all over the house. I was rendered speechless (which, as you know, doesn’t happen often!). I can’t begin to tell you what an incredible experience that was.
Drooling over Herb Ritts’ phenomenal talent will continue to be in my future because next week, the Herb Ritts: L.A. Style Exhibit opens at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The museum perfectly describe’s Ritt’s influence in the art world:
From the late 1970s until Ritts’s untimely death from AIDS-related complications in 2002, his ability to create images that successfully bridged the gap between art and commerce was not only a testament to the power of his imagination and technical skill but also marked the synergistic union between art, popular culture, and business that followed in the wake of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
The themes of the exhibition include Fashion, Celebrity Portraits and The Nude. I hope that you will be able to see what promises to be a magnificent exhibition. It is open from April 3 through August 26!
If you’re not able to see the exhibit in Los Angeles, great news: it will be traveling. Following its presentation at the Getty, this exhibition will be on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum from October 6 to December 30, 2012, and at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Florida from March 1 to June 2, 2013.
Photography by Herb Ritts (obviously)
Once you develop your own style, you know when you’re able to give your best. Feeling at home is part of it. It’s a matter of the environment and of what affects you.
– Herb Ritts
Hollye, my first job out of college was in NYC at Mademoiselle magazine. Herb Ritts was beginning his career and I met him in the art department that was next to my office (my boss' office, but we shared!) one day. He was kind and modest and his photos even then showed his enormous gifts. I can't wait to see the exhibit!
Seriously, Carol? How awesome! LOVE IT.