Getty Museum in LA acquires Herb Ritts photos

Afp
Thursday 11 August 2011 19:00 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles has acquired 69 original photographs by noted fashion photographer Herb Ritts, a collection valued at nearly $1 million, the museum said Thursday.

The trove of photos includes some of Ritts's most well-known images, such as a portrait of Richard Gere wearing a white tank top and smoking in a California garage, an image that contributed to the rise of the actor's sex-symbol status.

Another black and white photograph, "Stephanie, Cindy, Christy, Tatjana, Naomi, Hollywood" (1989), features the supermodels nude and intertwined in a group portrait.

Ritts, a Los Angeles native who died in 2002, was known for his black and white portraits of some of the biggest celebrities of the 1980s and 1990s, including Madonna, Tina Turner, Sean Connery and Jack Nicholson.

The collection, for which Getty paid a small amount of the $1 million price, was partly a gift from the Herb Ritts Foundation.

"We are happy to have this opportunity to acquire an important selection of prints by Herb Ritts, whose work in fashion blurred the lines between art and commerce," said Judith Keller, Getty's senior curator of photographs.

The museum's collection also includes images by Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Horst P. Horst, William Klein, Robert Mapplethorpe, Man Ray and Louise Dahl Wolfe.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in