Herb Ritts

Herb Ritts was a leading American fashion photographer shaped the visual culture of the 1980s and 1990s though his iconic black and white images of celebrities and super models.

Ritts was born in Los Angeles in 1952 and began his photographic career in the late 1970s. Working closely with Vogue, Vanity Fair, Interview and Rolling Stone, Ritts also created advertising campaigns for major fashion brands like Chanel, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Valentino among others. 

Living in California, Ritts was one of the first photographers to form an innate understanding of natural light, relying primarily on California’s “golden hour.” The resulting images are embedded with a radiating beauty and a style and grace that recalls classical Greek sculpture. This simplicity allowed his images to be felt instantaneously and led Ritts to become one of the most respected and well-known fashion and celebrity photographers. In the late 1980’s he began directing numerous influential and award-winning music videos and commercials. His fine art photography has been the subject of exhibitions worldwide, with works residing in many significant public and private collections including the J. Paul Getty Museum and the MFA Boston, amongst others. 

Ritts contributed to many charities such as Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and he on the Board of Directors for the Elton John Aids Foundation. Prior to his death in 2002, Ritts communicated his desire to create a foundation that would carry on his passion for photography and charitable support for HIV/AIDS, thus in 2003 the Herb Ritts Foundation was established.