As usual, I had entered Studio 54, always a guest of Steve Rubell, the club’s exuberant co-owner. Hundreds of fabulously-attired guests of every persuasion had gathered behind the curtain that separated invited, notable guests drinking endless champagne from the hundreds of frenzied revelers who waited patiently (or screamed non-stop to no avail) .to enter Studio. Wearing my usual garb-black jacket, black trousers, comfortable shoes, I made my way toward those glittering creatures -Diane von Furstenberg, Elsa Peretti, Halston, Bianca, Baryshnikov, Truman Capote, Marisa Berenson -that made each night the most exciting place in the universe. Like a fly on the wall, I carried my Olympus 35mm camera with lots of black-and-white film, And waited patiently until I observed an intimate moment that I had to capture. Under the glittering disco ball, An animated Andy Warhol (who never was photographed speaking) was actually engaged in conversation with the gorgeous texan model. I probably took only one or two frames, before the moment evaporated, and guests intervened to chat with the striking duo-in 1977.
Rose Hartman’s Bio
Photographer Rose Hartman has been chronicling iconic moments in fashion, style, and culture of the most legendary settings of New York nightlife, fashion shows, openings and clubs. From Studio 54 to the Mudd Club to Chelsea art galleries today. Hartman’s career has yielded a treasure trove of material that portrays incomparable women of high fashion, street style, and New York City society through the eye of a social documentarian.
Her arresting pictures have been published in Vogue, Stern, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Panorama, the NY Times, New York, Stern, Amici, Art News,, Allure, Art & Auction, Art & Antiques, Quest, Life, Amica, Cosas, Marie Claire, Rolling Stone, Elle, Forbes, W, Der Spiegel, American Photo, etc.
Her first book, BIRDS OF PARADISE (Delacorte Press, 1980) offered a private and extraordinary look into the world of fashion and its personalities. ADD, a London-based publishing group published her second book, “INCOMPARABLE WOMEN of STYLE” (2012), a volume dedicated to women known for their unparalleled taste and style. Her forthcoming book, incomparable duos, will be also published by ADD in 2015.
Liesl Schillinger, on an article for The New York Times, says: “And who is Rose Hartman? A tireless, jaunty fixture on the New York fashion scene (she calls it the “chiffon jungle”) for four decades. She resembles the icons she photographs, a plucky charismatic mélange of Gwen Stefani, Auntie Mame and a Tasmanian devil. Blink and you’ll miss her.”
