Left: Cindy Crawford, Ferre 3, Malibu, 1993. Right: Greg Louganis, Hollywood, 1985. Copyright © Herb Ritts Foundation

Herb Ritts: L.A. Style has been extended to September 2^nd at the J. Paul Getty Museum, in Los Angeles, after which it will open at the Cincinnati Art Museum in October. Ritts, whose career bridged the gap between art and commerce, made Los Angeles the site, and the inspiration, for his photography. He often photographed outdoors, combining architectural forms and landscape elements into compositions bathed in the golden California light, which set his work apart from his New York-based peers. Malibu, Point Dume, the dry lakebed at El Mirage near Palmdale and the Santa Monica Pier were some of his favorite locations to achieve the grainy textures and chiaroscuro-like shadows on the skin that became his signature effects.

Largely self-taught, Ritts easily moved between celebrity portraits, fashion editorials, and advertising assignments. His 1977 portraits of Richard Gere launched his career when they were published in Mademoiselle, Vogue, and Esquire in the same month. At the height of his career, Ritts had a million-dollar contract with Conde Nast that also included a huge expense account; he created the famous Gap “Individuals of Style” advertising campaign; and had the first show of work by a living photographer at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Vogue’s editor in chief, Anna Wintour, once said that Ritts wasn’t as interested in the clothes as he was in the texture of beautiful skin. When she rejected a shoot of super model Naomi Campbell wearing no more than a pair of thigh-high black patent leather boots, Ritts sent it to Andy Warhol’s Interview, for which he was a frequent contributor.

All the time he was shooting celebrities such as Madonna, Michael Jackson and a host of film stars for magazines, it was his personal work, photographs of male nudes, that gained him acceptance in the art world. An avid collector of photography, his knowledge of the history of the medium was deep; he drew inspiration from the work of Man Ray, Paul Outerbridge, Edward Weston, George Platt Lynes, Edward Steichen, and Alfred Steiglitz, among others. His ability to photograph the texture of skin gave his nudes the monumental quality of sculpture. But also collected in the gorgeously produced book of the same title that accompanies this exhibition are many of his female nudes, which are as beautifully considered as the male studies.

Herb Ritts: L.A. Style continues at the J. Paul Getty Museum through September 2. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA. Directions. The exhibition opens at the Cincinnati Art Museum on October 6^th. Information.

This just in: Dashwood Books is hosting a book signing tonight for Barricade by Kazuo Kitai and The Code by John Gossage, both published by Harper's Books. Dashwood Books, 33 Bond Street, between Bowery and Lafayette, NY, NY. Information