Prominent fashion photographer Rodney Smith’s (1947–2016) imaginative and whimsical images from a 45-year career are thoughtfully curated into Rodney Smith: A Leap of Faith (J. Paul Getty Museum, Hardcover $65.00). This title is the definitive record of the life’s work of this truly original artist and educator. This is available for purchase May 16, 2023.
Born in New York City, Smith started work as a photo essayist, before turning to portraiture, and eventually finding his niche and greatest success in fashion photography. He was a regular contributor to The New York Times, W Magazine, Vanity Fair, Departures, and New York Magazine, and shot campaigns for luxury retailers including Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, and Ralph Lauren, among others.
Inviting comparison to the surrealist, Rene Magritte, Smith’s fashion photography has long been hailed as a delightful revelation. Meticulously-crafted, humorous, paradoxical, romanticized, and fun, Smith created scenes of enchantment, and surprising, dream-like worlds without retouching, setting him apart from his contemporaries and beyond. Getty Museum curator Paul Martineau describes Smith, “...like Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, his photographs lead us down the rabbit hole to a fantastical place that is just beyond our reach but one intended to inspire us to be better versions of ourselves.”
In Rodney Smith: A Leap of Faith, Martineau weaves through the artist’s history in a detailed bio-critical essay, mapping the artist’s creative trajectory—including his introduction to photography, early personal projects, teaching, commissioned pieces, and career in fashion—providing insight into his personal life and character, contextualizing his work and creative tendencies within his privileged but lonely upbringing and complex emotional and psychological makeup.
This lavish volume features nearly 200 reproductions of Smith’s images—many of which have never been published. Inspired by renowned Life magazine photo-essayist W. Eugene Smith, taught by Walker Evans, and devoted to the techniques of Ansel Adams, Smith was driven by technical mastery and beauty. The Center for Creative Photography’s chief curator Rebecca A. Senf contributes an in-depth technical assessment of Smith’s production, his exacting process, and his use of photography as a means of human connection.
