Helmut Newton. Legacy
Helmut Newton, Woman examining Man, Calvin Klein, US Vogue, St. Tropez 1975, (c) Helmut Newton Foundation.
By Tom Ludwig
Every time I travel to Berlin a visit to the museum of the Helmut Newton Foundation is an absolute must on the agenda. Therefore I was very excited to go see the latest exhibition “Helmut Newton. Legacy” during a recent trip. This retrospective was originally scheduled to open on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Helmut Newton on October 31, 2020, but had to be postponed due to the pandemic.
Around 300 works are on display, besides some of the well-known icons around half of the images have never been shown before. This perspective made the visit and the anticipation even more exciting.
My tour followed the suggested chronological order beginning with works from the late 1950s and 1960s when Helmut Newton worked in Paris for the French Vogue and other fashion magazines. Although the images shown in this section are still rather classical compared to his later works they already go far beyond the typical style of fashion photography during that time period. Especially outstanding are the photos of the fashion creations of André Courrèges. Also impressive and for the time proactive is the style to place his models in environments like an operator’s place of a power utility, a radio antenna behind wire fences, dark and moody residential areas, or with a warship in the background. There are also some photos with a sort of kinky erotic mood showing military uniforms and riding crops which are characteristic of the subtle play with power, decadent elegance, and subtle provocation which is a leitmotif of Newton’s oeuvre.
This became even more prominent in the gallery where the works from the 1970s are shown. It was a great pleasure to see many photos from the book “White Women” as large prints. This was the first Helmut Newton book that I bought in 1978. This period marked also the start of Newton’s nude photography including the wonderful nude of the young Charlotte Rampling photographed in a posh hotel lobby. There are also portraits of celebrities like Andy Warhol, Romy Schneider, Mick Jagger, and Catherine Deneuve. The display cases feature a lot of Polaroids, a technique which Newton loved, and contact sheets giving a good idea of how delicately Newton worked on eventually selecting the final image.
The next gallery of the 1980s shows how Newton’s work became more radical. Showing some of the iconic images like “Arielle after haircut” with Arielle Burgelin de Hugo, one of his muses, or the mirror selfie with model Sylvia Gobbel which is placed underneath the quote “I am a professional voyeur” which clearly characterizes a lot of Helmut Newton’s pictures of that period. By the way, such quotes from the photographer are shown all over the exhibition galleries as headlines over individual or grouped photos or on big displays. Nudity plays an important role in the work of the 1980s culminating with the big nudes and the iconic “dressed and nude” pictures, some of them – “Sie Kommen” - having been moved from their usual place in the staircase lobby of the museum to a very prominent spot in that gallery. There are also many portraits of actors and other celebrities among others a “triplet Karl Lagerfeld” from 1983 in a very creative composition using mirrors. Again, many more contact sheets, Polaroids, and original copies of the magazines where Newton’s work has been published.
The last gallery shows the work of the 1990s and the late work, and it is the highlight and the synopsis of the entire oeuvre of Helmut Newton. It shows his outstanding creativity, the use of harsh light, the perfection of handling nudity, and of contrast, not only in the toning of his photos but also in the selection and composition of his subjects, perfectly expressed in the iconic photo “Chicken and Bulgari jewels”. In a quiet little hall between the 1980s and 1990s galleries, we find also a wonderful portrait of the maestro looking into the wide, it remains open if past or future, shot in 1981 by his wife June Newton aka Alice Springs.
More work of Alice Springs can be seen in a small adjacent gallery named “June’s Room” where always her work or photos from her collection are shown. This time there are some 20 wonderful portraits of e.g. Azzedine Alia, Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace, Cathérine Deneuve, and – again – Charlotte Rampling.
I am still excited when I am thinking back to my visit at the museum. I have seen many exhibitions there as well as exhibitions from other famous photographers elsewhere. This one really shows the legacy of one of the greatest in a wonderfully subtle and impressive way. Congrats to the curator Matthias Harder and the Helmut Newton Foundation.
The exhibition is on display until 15 May 2022. If you have a chance to be in Berlin, don’t miss the chance to visit. Or otherwise treat yourself to the amazing and high-quality catalogue “Helmut Newton.Legacy” by Matthias Harder et. al., Taschen Verlag, Cologne, ISBN 978-3836584586, about $75. I have it already on my book shelf, and I have also a clear plan to visit the exhibition again.