After the monographs dedicated to the great interpreters of international photography such as Sebastião Salgado, Walter Bonatti, Edward Burtynsky, and the demanding Italia Inside Out project, the largest photography exhibition ever dedicated to Italy, organized in two distinct moments which, in months of Expo, revealed the image of the Belpaese through over 500 shots of the major authors of the twentieth century, Palazzo della Ragione Photography in Milan continues its exhibition program.
The exhibition is open until 5 June 2016, the Milanese house of photography opens to celebrate the art and style of Herb Ritts (1952-2002), one of the most renowned and appreciated American photographers, whose works have helped to build the heritage of the world collective imagination of the last decades.
The exhibition, entitled In equilibrium, curated by Alessandra Mauro, is promoted and produced by the Municipality of Milan - Culture, Palazzo della Ragione, Civita, Contrasto and GAmm Giunti in collaboration with the Herb Ritts Foundation of Los Angeles, with the patronage of the Consulate United States General in Milan. The staging is by Migliore + Servetto Architects.
“Palazzo della Ragione confirms its identity as a space linked to the art of photography and its protagonists, proposing the first of the great artists present in the 2016 program, Herb Ritts – declared the Councilor for Culture Filippo Del Corno -. His gaze focused on the world of the star system investigates bodies and faces with the instrument of light, fixing on the film images that in turn become icons, objects of dreams and desires. While the images taken in Africa tell of his need for new spaces and poignant landscapes to discover other paths beyond himself and his lens".
The exhibition presents over 100 original images (since his death no new editions of his photos have been printed), from the most famous to the lesser known, as well as spectacular enlargements, video installations, all from the Herb Ritts Foundation in Los Angeles and expressly selected for this event, the artist's first major retrospective presented in Milan.
The images of Herb Ritts live in perfect balance – as the title of the exhibition states – which is expressed with the careful dosage of natural elements, the exaltation of the body in movement, the evidence of faces, in an environment dominated by natural light . Herb Ritts' photography is a measured combination of spontaneity and study, of glamor and immediacy, of sophisticated poses, of film and music stars and natural light.
His shots are a miracle of lightness and harmony; they are the depiction of a rare balance which remains imprinted forever on photographic paper and which is expressed with the careful dosage of natural elements, the exaltation of the body, the evidence of illuminated faces.
The exhibition itinerary develops around the themes most present in his creative universe. Firstly, the portraits that have helped create the mythology of some of the most acclaimed celebrities of the world star system. From those of music – Madonna chose him to create the cover of True Blue and to direct the Cherish video – to Michael Jackson, David Bowie and Tina Turner – his is the cover of Foreign Affair -, to Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears, to the icons of cinema, like a very young Richard Gere, photographed even before his debut on the big screen, or Reese Witherspoon, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Elizabeth Taylor.
Next, body work in motion. Ritts, a man of great culture and sensitivity, as well as an art lover, studied classical compositions with extreme attention, as well as the plasticity of Renaissance statuary, in order to be able to translate them into his shots, in a perfect balance between volumes and natural light.
Furthermore, the African landscapes and suggestions. The black continent has always exerted an enormous fascination on Herb Ritts, to the point of dedicating numerous trips to it, even just a few days after his death. The strong sensations that that land was able to communicate to him find space in surprising reportages.
A special section will present some videos that will reveal the hidden side of his work, through backstage footage, but also his activity as an attentive photography collector.
PALACE OF REASON PHOTOGRAPHY
Until June 5 2016
