Incomparable Couples: Rose Hartman

Rose Hartman is a legend. An omnipresent force on the New York City social scene, Rose stands as one of the most prolific photographers of our age. As a woman photographer, Rose has jumped over every hurdle in a male-dominated world to create a huge body of work, documenting the demimonde of fame and glamour in the centre of world culture. If you are famous, she has most likely photographed you, whether you know her well or not at all. Her groundbreaking photography straddles the boundaries between street photography, paparazzi photography, portraiture and documentary photography. The images included in this book are prime selections of couples - artists and muses; designers and muses; family; mothers and children; pets; friendships; models and friends; lovers; marriages - photographed by Rose over the years, and yet they are far more than pictures of two people. In each and every photograph, Rose is the third and most critical component. She is the director of the final cut. Thanks to her impeccable timing and placement, Rose opts to trip the shutter at just the right moment, capturing a critical instant in a conversation - a pose, a gesture - so as to present a story about two people from the world of popular culture. Couples featured include: Jerry Hall and Annie Leibovitz, Bob Mackie and Cher, Claudia Schiffer and Valentino, Jean Paul Gautier and Lauren Bacall, Donatella Versace and Naomi Campbell, Peter and Jane Fonda, Bianca and Jade Jagger, Lily and Kate Moss, Sean Lennon and Yoko Ono, Liz Taylor and her dog, Andy Warhol and Lou Reed, Hugh Grant and Elizabeth Hurley, Robert Wolders and Audrey Hepburn, Iman and David Bowie, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, Kelly and Calvin Klein, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown.

Rose Hartman was born in Manhattan's East Village. She started patrolling the night scene in 1975 as an arts and society columnist at the 'SoHo Weekly News'. Her first big break was a photo shoot of Joan Hemingway's wedding in Sun Valley, Idaho where she managed to induce Ernest Hemingway's wife, Mary, to pose for her relaxing in a hammock. Her photos have been published in 'Vogue', 'Glamour', 'Vanity Fair', 'Art & Auction', 'Art News', 'Harpers Bazaar', 'Panorama', 'Der Spiegel', 'Elle', and many other magazines. Her first book, Birds of Paradise: An Intimate View of the New York Fashion World (Delacorte Press), remains recognized as much as a collection of photographs, as a history of the era it records.