Fine Herb

These stark studies of youth in bloom are the work of Herb Ritts, the celebrity portraitist who recently brought us a sopping Madonna as a sea nymph, in her current "Cherish" video (his directorial debut). In Ritts's new Men and Women portfolio, published by Los Angeles-based Twin Palms, he shifts his gaze from the stars to focus purely on the human form, with full nudes and detail shots which make up a collective ode to the landscape of the body. Even using big-name models (whom he mixed with nonpros), he found that "when you strip them down to basics and they're not performing the way they usually do," there's a more basic "core—the strength that holds a photograph." The pictures— a graphic sampling of which is shown here—will be on view at two galleries: Fahey Klein in L.A. and Staley-Wise in New York.