When Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts mounted its first exhibition dedicated to the work of fashion photographer Herb Ritts, the result was an astounding success. Now, almost 20 years after the blockbuster Herb Ritts: WORK show, the museum’s hoping a second, eponymous show of the late shutterbug’s work—opening March 14 and running through the fall—will find an equally ravenous audience.
“The show we are putting together is a celebration of Herb Ritts,” James Leighton, the exhibition’s curator, explains. “His work is important because it blurred the lines between art and commerce and he was actively challenging the assumption that the commercial assignment didn’t have fine art applications. We are showing work that created timeless images beyond the magazine pages.”
Indeed, the exhibition features 52 images including Ritts’ famous celebrity portraits and nudes as well as photos dedicated to celebrating his native California and never-before-seen images spread across two galleries.
“We’re taking this opportunity to not only revisit some images from the museum’s canon but also to revisit the work of Ritts,” Leighton says. “We’re showing a lot of timeless photographs and are so excited to revisit and celebrate his work.”
Click through the gallery of some of Ritts’ most famous photographs now.
