Herb Ritts: L.A. Style

Published to accompany a traveling exhibition that opens at L.A.’s Getty Center in April, Getty associate photography curator Martineau (Still Life in Photography) draws from the archives of one of the most influential and celebrated fashion photographers of the late 20th century, offering an impressive collection of Ritts’s sumptuous nudes and portraits of supermodels and celebrities. Ritts’s obvious photographic influences—Weston, Siskind, and Mapplethorpe—are evident throughout, though his innovative use of water, fabric, tree branches, and other props display his special touch. That Ritts (1952–2002) clearly drew on ideas from the surrealists Dalí and Magritte as well becomes apparent in his portrait of Djimon Hounsou with an octopus on his head or a model whose hair covers her face so tightly that it forms a grotesque mask. The California sunshine and coast clearly sparked his imagination, so much so that the occasional interior shot falls flat. The inclusion of advertisements and magazine covers illuminate a phenomenal career that was cut tragically short by AIDS, but also reveal that color photography was not Ritts’s forte, as the images lack the depth and luxuriousness of the black-and-whites. With an essay by the Cincinnati Art Museum’s chief curator, James Crump, the book’s artfully arranged spreads, printed on high quality paper, are a veritable feast for the eyes. (Apr.)