Helmut Newton: Pages From The Glossies
“I love vulgarity. I am very attracted by bad taste – it is a lot more exciting than that supposed good taste which is nothing more than a standardised way of looking at things.” – Helmut Newton.
Known for his provocative, evocative and controversial work, Newton left a legacy that has prompted us to reconsider our perceptions of female representation in society. “I am a voyeur…some people hate [my photographs] and hate what I do. Others think they are beautiful.”
Born Helmet Neustädter in Berlin, Germany, Newton was forced to flee his hometown, due to World War II and the war crimes against the Jewish diaspora. He fled to Singapore and from Singapore he made his way to Australia, later setting-up his photography studio in Melbourne. His work immediately caught the eye of local and international fashion publications, his first work published for Australian Vogue in the 1950s.
But it wasn’t until after Newton suffered a heart attack in 1970 that he began producing his iconic erotically charged works. Challenging the conventions and standards of femininity in 60s and 70s society, his work, commonly cited as voyeuristic and carrying fetishistic undertones, propelled him to become one of the decade’s most influential and sought after photographers. Friends with the likes of Warhol and Lagerfeld, Newton’s work gained attention, and continued to be published in major fashion periodicals including Vogue, Elle, and Queen.
The work of Newton is being exhibited at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin. Helmut Newton: Pages From the Glossies is an extensive overview of Newton’s creative output throughout his working life, as well as the work of American photographer Greg Gorman, which will feature 25 colour portraits of prominent musicians, artists, and actors including David Bowie, Grace Jones, Julianne Moore, Andy Warhol, Al Pacino and Harrison Ford.
Helmut Newton: Pages From The Glossies, displays facsimiles of Newton’s work previously published in these fashion editorials from 1956 to 1998. Based on the out-of-print book that has been now republished by TASCHEN, the exhibition features Enlargements of the single and double paged images, including all original captions, headlines and commentary, the exhibition is more than a mere display of Newton’s work. Here visitors have the opportunity to delve into the world of Newton’s visual language and explore its transmutation through time.
A range of his most seminal works will be on display including the iconic Sie Kommen (Naked and Dressed) 1981, as well as his many famous works published in French Vogue, as well as 230 magazine pages and nearly 500 individual pictures.
From the radical to the elegant, the acceptable to the contentious, Newton’s work explored the shifting role of women in the 20th century, but spurred an aesthetic revolution for fashion, women and society worldwide. “Any photographer who says he’s not a voyeur is either stupid or a liar,” he famously said. Yet while the works of Newton blurred the boundaries of acceptable, voyeurism and controversy, he nevertheless influenced a generation, and continues to do so to this day.
Helmut Newton: Pages From The Glossies will be on show until Sunday 22 May 2016 at The Helmut Newton Foundation, Jebensstraße 2, Berlin, Germany.
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