December 26: Herb Ritts

Fashion photographer Herb Ritts, whose black-and-white photographs of Richard Gere, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Madonna, Cindy Crawford, Nicole Kidman, Michael Jordan, and many other celebrities became iconic, died of pneumonia at age 50 on this date in 2002. Ritts was HIV-positive for many years, and his appearance in an NBC News special about gay life in the 1990s (The Gay ’90s) brought him letters from many gay teens, including some who had contemplated suicide. “[Y]ou suddenly get one of these letters,” Ritts said, and “you realize how important it is that there be encouragement for gay people.” An exhibit of his photographs at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts from 1996 to ’97 attracted over 250,000 viewers. “Best known for his magazine covers . . . and extremely successful ad campaigns for . . . top fashion designers,” writes Linda Rapp at the glbtq encyclopedia,“he is of special interest to the GLBTQ community because of the homoerotic qualities and the ‘homosexual iconography’ in many of his photographs.”
“I think knowing people by first names, not by what they do sexually, is really what it’s about. Not being afraid. Fear is the enemy. I’ve always been comfortable with being gay.” —Herb Ritts