Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits at the Chrysler.
Madonna bathing in sunlight, a leather jacket falling off her shoulders; an impeccably coiffed Prince in profile, eyes downcast; David Bowie in motion pointing to the camera. Over the course of his 25-year career, photographer Herb Ritts produced some of the most iconic images in pop culture. And now through Sept. 18, more than 100 of his portraits are on display at Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum in Herb Ritts: The Rock Portraits.
The exhibition was conceptualized by Mark McKenna, executive director of the Herb Ritts Foundation and Ritts’ former assistant; former Rolling Stone director of photography Laurie Kratochvil; and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, where it ran from March 2015 until January of this year. The Chrysler “jumped at the chance” to host the exhibition, says deputy director Susan Leidy: “It’s an opportunity for our guests to see someone in depth who isn’t represented in our collection.”
The exhibition also includes costumes, instruments and clips from some of the many music videos Ritts directed before he passed away in 2002.
“I’d like people to think about … how much Ritts’ images branded those artists,” says Leidy. “When we think about Madonna, Bowie, Prince, Britney, Michael—how much that’s in our minds is really Herb Ritts?” Admission is free. ChryslerMuseum.org
