Helmut Newton: Work
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Photography & Video
Helmut Newton: Work Details
About the Author Helmut Newton (1920-2004) was one of the most influential photographers of all time. Born in Berlin, he arrived in Australia in 1940 and married June Brunell (a.k.a. Alice Springs) eight years later. He first achieved international fame in the 1970's while working principally for French Vogue, and his celebrity and influence grew over the decades. Newton preferred to shoot in streets or interiors, rather than studios. Controversial scenarios, bold lighting, and striking compositions came to form his signature look. In 1990 he was awarded the Grand Prix national de la photographie; in 1992 the German government awarded him Das Grosse Verdienstkreuz for services to German culture, and he was appointed Officier des Arts, Lettres et Sciences by S.A.S. Princess Caroline of Monaco. In 1996, he was appointed Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French Minister of Culture at the time. Working and living in close companionship with his wife until his death at 83, his images remain as distinctive, seductive and orginal as ever.Manfred Heiting is an internationally acknowledged expert on and collector of photographs and books, who divides his time between Amsterdam and Malibu. He is a founder-member of the J. Paul Getty Museum Council and a member of the supervisory board of the Herb Ritts Foundation, both located in Los Angeles. He is editor of Deutschland im Fotobuch (2011) and co-editor of Autopsie: Deutschsprachige Fotobücher 1918-1945 (2012).Françoise Marquet established a photographic department at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1981, acquiring the works and organising retrospectives of Duane Michals, Herbert List, Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, Helmut Newton (1985), Jeanloup Sieff, Jan Saudek, and Manuel Alvarez Bravo. In 1997 she was appointed to the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris. Read more
Reviews
Once again Taschen has done a wonderful job of providing a quality portfolio of a great photographer's work. I've been a long-time admirer of Newton and even reading his autobiography didn't change my opinion of his work--although it did explain much about the man behind the camera. This large format, 280-page folio is meant for displaying Newton's somewhat eccentric photographic views of life. The cover photo of one of his Nordic-looking blond models standing next to a look-alike clothing store dummy is instructive because inside the book almost all of his subjects have a plastic looking appearance. Even his wonderful nudes seem so hard as to be made out wood. His series of Paris nude photos using mannequins with real hair and make-up are difficult to separate from the live models sometimes appearing in the same photo, but not in a dangerous setting, which is why Newton used the dummies in the first place. Almost all of the celebrity portraits included in the book look somber at best, aggravated or are downright glaring into the camera in a mixture of frustration and anger.In one portrait, Sigourney Weaver's expression and eyes almost look like she's ready to kill the photographer as easily as she dispatched so many of her infamous alien enemies. Even the wet T-Shirt effect displaying her breasts and nipples isn't enough to cancel out the unhappy appearance of Weaver. Ditto for the full-length portrait of Jack Maple. About the only section of the book I didn't really care for was two sections of pictures--one black and white and the other color where the layout included dozens of pictures slapped onto two double-page fold-out spreads that reminded me too much of snapshots slapped on a bulletin board. However, that doesn't hurt the over-all quality of the book. It provides a little bit of break as the reader tries to find the correction captions. It's nice to know where the idea for the big nudes germinated. The nude series was originally entitled "Terrorists" as a clue. Newton's photographs have always seemed to have that slick, unreal Vogue look. The models may be dressed in the most erotic clothes imaginable or they may be totally nude. They are all beautiful, and most of them in this collection appear to be Nordic Scandinavians. There are actually three pictures in the book where one of the models is actually smiling and a couple where they may be half smiling--probably in amusement of the silly situation they are in. The overtones of sex, fetish and BDSM remind me of the jaded looks of German strippers. They may be absolutely drop-dead beautiful, but they also display an unapproachable, jaded tombstone hardness. This is an excellent book of fine art photography. It's a touch gloomy because of the lack of smiles throughout, even at the humorous intent of the photograph. And there is a lot of humor in Helmut Newton's work. Some of it is falling down funny. It's amazing how the models could keep from breaking out into fits of giggling at some of the poses and scenes they were being directed to play. Hopefully, those photos will eventually show up someplace else? Acquiring this book is a requirement for any serious collector or admirer of Newton's work. Anyone wishing to know more about the photos and photographer should also try to find a copy of Helmut Newton's Autobiography (please see my Amazon review). His life story will surprise, perhaps stun you, as well as explain a lot about his work. He was very, very lucky to have escaped Nazi Germany.
