Rose Hartman: Femme Fatale

Rose's venture into celebrity photography began when she was commissioned by a fashion magazine, capturing the wedding of Joan Hemingway and Jean De Noyeter. From there she scavenged the cityscape; bouncing from fashion show, to gala, to party. With her camera, she captured some of New York’s most iconic moments and people. From Grace Jones to Warhol to Basquiat - Hartman is serendipitously at the right place and time. Her most-known photograph depicts Bianca Jagger riding a white horse - entering Studio 54 during her birthday celebration. Studio 54 became a photographic forest where Hartman could roam, documenting the wild party aesthetic and liveliness of the 1970s. This love of nightlife and a blend of aesthetics and debauchery become a common thread in Hartman’s work through the 1990s.

The artist's fearlessness has not only allowed her to arrest beautiful yet honest moments in time, it has also empowered her to break boundaries: Rose was unabashedly a female photographer in an age when photography was a ‘man’s game;’ Rose shot images on color when only black and white was considered fine photography. Rose’s compositions prioritize storytelling and authenticity over clinical sharpness and conventionality. Curator Ty Cooperman worked closely with the artist to comb through her immense archives to select a handful of never-before-exhibited images, along with some of Rose’s most famous photographs. Highlights include arresting moments from the worlds of: fashion photography (Kate Moss, Jerry Hall, Betsey Johnson, Angeleen, Kristen McMenamy); artists (Andy Warhol, Jean-Michele Basquiat, Daphne Guinness), musicians (Mick Jagger, Grace Jones, Liza Minelli), and 90s club kids.