In piena luce is the second exhibition presented at AuditoriumExpo- Parco della Musica in Rome designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano- a new space inside Auditorium dedicated to photography inaugurated last April with the great exhibition LIFE – I grandi fotografi.
Specifically created for AuditoriumExpo In piena luce is an exceptional retrospective of Herb Ritts’ images, coming from the Herb Ritts Foundation in Los Angeles, presents the most famous as well as others that have never been shown. More than 100 photographs from the celebrated portraits, the fashion images, his work on the human body, the extraordinary California photographs and the reportage on Africa.
From the late 1970s until his death, Herb Ritts’ production was a perfect synergistic union between photography, culture and commerce. He was able to create and leave to us an uncommon testament trough the power of his images where imagination and technical find the perfect harmony.
He certainly is part of an American tradition of portrait that includes Richard Avedon, Robert Mapplethorpe, Irving Penn and captivated by the formal rigor of Herbert List – his ability to create beautiful images was also a new way to show nude. Like Robert Mapplerthorpe he made a change in how the body was reproduced. He interpreted nude as Art. Sometimes his compositions are a kind of abstraction of the body where the powerful belongs to classical perfection of paintings and sculptures. He revolutionized fashion photography, modernized the nude, and transformed celebrities into icons.
Born and raised in Brentwood, in West Los Angeles, he found in California natural elements the perfect combination with his models. California roots always had an impact on Ritts’s aesthetic: the wind, light, landscape, the horizon stretching as far as the eye can see and the immense spaces. All of these ingredients entered on his photos to create a magical aura. Each image is a dialogue between body and nature. Even on African atmospheres Ritts’ portraits seem inimitable.
“I like the natural elements that abstract into light, texture, shape, and shadow. With everything depending on the subject in front of you, it’s essential to have all these givens to create the image and the moment; and I feel that when I’m in that kind of environment.” (Herb Ritts by Patrick Roegiers Thames & Hudson, 2000)
In the American fashion world Ritts was a legend, one of the reason was also his ability to capture star in relaxed moments or in intimacy. Liz Taylor, one of his close friends, entrusted the fragility of her body to him- her white head almost completely shaved for a post-brain surgery, draws an elegant silhouette against the black background. Or again, the sinuous body of Tina Turner, the gaze and glasses of William Burroughs, and Dizzy Gillespie’s balloon-like cheeks stretching across a white background.
His reputation as a celebrity portraitist grew more and more. Ritts’ work appeared in magazines like Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone and created successful advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein, Chanel, Donna Karan, Gap, Gianfranco Ferré, Gianni Versace, Giorgio Armani, Valentino and more. He directed videos for Madonna, Chris Isaak, ‘NSYNC, Britney Spears and others.
He died of complications from pneumonia. He was 50.
In piena luce is a production of Fondazione FORMA per la Fotografia and Fondazione Musica per Roma in collaboration with the Herb Ritts Foundation and Contrasto.
EXHIBITION
Herb Ritts, In Piena Luce
December 11 – March 30, 2014
Auditorium Parco della Musica
Rome
