Richard Gere, San Bernardino, Herb Ritts, 1977. Gelatin silver print, 20 x 16 in. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011.18.20. Gift of Herb Ritts Foundation. © Herb Ritts Foundation

Today the Getty Museum announced the acquisition of 69 photographs by famed fashion and celebrity photographer Herb Ritts. The acquisition includes photographs of nudes, celebrity portraits, and images made for high-fashion ad campaigns.

A portrait of Richard Gere as a budding young actor taken by Ritts in 1977 is one of the highlights, but it also has an interesting backstory. In an interview with François Quintin in 1999, Ritts talked about this famous picture of his friend Richard, which depicts Gere as a new American hero—and which launched Ritts’s photography career. Here’s an excerpt from the interview, posted on the Herb Ritts Foundation’s website:

I knew Richard’s girlfriend, Penny, who was an actress, and she introduced me to Richard. Actually, when I first started dabbling in photography, I was still working for my parents as a salesman. Penny was supposed to come to my house to take a head shot, but she never showed. Richard arrived; he was going to meet her there. I asked if I could take a picture of him, and he said no—he was very shy and had very long hair—but finally I did. A week or so later, we were driving around in Penny’s car and got a flat tire and ended up in a desert gas station, where we took pictures. Later that year, Richard told his new publicist, “Oh, Herb took a couple of rolls of me.” He had fairly well-known photographers shooting him already; it happened quickly for him. So I sent the negatives and forgot about it. What did I know? I wasn’t a photographer. Three months later, the pictures appeared in American Vogue, Esquire, and Mademoiselle. Big spreads. One day soon thereafter, Mademoiselle tracked me down and asked me to do Brooke Shields, and I said sure. I didn’t say I wasn’t a photographer.

Selections from this acquisition will be featured in an exhibition opening at the Getty Center in April 2012. Other highlights from the acquisition are Greg Louganis, Hollywood (1985), a portrait of the American Olympic diver; Wrapped Torso, Los Angeles (1988), which shows off a dress by Japanese designer Issey Mikaye; Stephanie, Cindy, Christy, Tatjana, Naomi, Hollywood (1989), an iconic image that has come to define the era of the Supermodel; Veiled Dress, El Mirage (1990), a photograph first used in Versace’s couture catalogue, and a suite of photographs of the internationally recognized choreographer and dancer Bill T. Jones.

A number of the photographs in the acquisition have not been reproduced, exhibited, or seen outside of the Herb Ritts Foundation’s archive.

Print Friendly