The Lasting Legacy of Helmut Newton
Pioneering photographer Helmut Newton is renowned for his stylised nudes that posses an erotic elegance. His fashion images changed the industry, merging art and culture.
The Helmut Newton Foundation preserves the legacy of Newton’s work, aiming to keep his work alive through upholding the artist’s wish to present the work of other artists in dialogue with his own.
A current exhibition looks back at the 2012 Grand Palais, Paris exhibition of his work, the first to be held in France since Newton’s death. Featuring over 200 photographs the exhibition features Newton’s fashion images alongside his iconic nudes. The exhibition runs in dialogue with a selection of American portrait artist Greg Gorman’s photographs.
fluoro spoke to Matthias Harder, Head Curator at the Helmut Newton Foundation about the exhibition’s diversity and the ties between the work.
(f) What do you see as Newtonʼs lasting legacy?
(MH) Helmut Newton is an outstanding figure in the photo history of the 20th century. Ten years after his death, the Helmut Newton Foundation is still visited by many curious people. Newton’s fashion photography is formed by timeless elegance and remains astonishing today.
(f) How did Newtonʼs images create a balance between the elegant and erotic?
(MH) He combined and balanced the elegant and erotic. Fashion is sometimes about seduction, and Newton took congenial pictures of this phenomenon. One example is Newton’s iconic photograph of the woman in a tuxedo designed by Yves Saint Laurent for French Vogue taken during the night in Paris in 1975.
(f) What is the key aspect that draws Helmut Newton and Greg Gormanʼs themes together?
(MH) The key aspect might be the enthusiasm for the naked human body and it’s beauty. Both photographers create a kind of a stage for the models as a mise-en-scene.
(f) How does gender play a role in the dialogue of these two artists?
(MH) We didn’t work out the idea of gender or gender art in this exhibition. But after seeing both shows you start to think about it automatically.
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The exhibitions ‘Helmut Newton: Paris-Berlin. Exhibition Grand Palais 2012’ and ‘Greg Gorman: Men’ are on display at the Helmut Newton Foundation, Berlin, Germany until Sunday 18 May 2014.
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