Helmut Newton

Helmut Newton - Biography of the artist

Helmut Newton was born in Berlin in a Jewish family in 1920. Passionate about photography from an early age, he started to work at the age of 12 alongside photographer Elsie Neulander Simon, known as Yva.

Following the racial laws, the photographer Helmut Newton was forced to leave Germany and take refuge in Singapore, where he began to work for the Singapore Straits Times.

Later, he was deported to Australia where he joined the Australian army. After the Second World War, Helmut changed his surname Neustädter to the English translation Newton.

He spent most of his life in Paris where he started working for French Vogue. Thanks to the magazine his long career in photography was initiated. 

After the Paris years, he moved and lived between Monte Carlo and Los Angeles. He lost his life in 2004 in a car accident in Hollywood.

Helmut Newton: photos and controversial style 

In Helmut Newton, photos and controversial style find a common point from the very beginning of his career, when he became interested in the representation of the female body.

Helmut Newton erotic photo have both a playful and ironic intent, the woman is depicted as strong and able to seduce without necessarily being vulgar. 

Helmut Newton nudes are the protagonists of almost all his photographs, where the woman dominates the scene offering a new perspective of analysis of herself and the world around her.

Pioneer and a revolutionary in the world of fashion thanks to his shots, he introduced for the first time the nude photos of the models in the 60’s. 

The themes that characterize the shots of Helmut Newton photography range from services made for fashion campaigns, to nudes and provocations. Helmut Newton portraits of iconic international figures such as Andy Warhol, Catherine Deneuve, and Paloma Picasso are also a distinctive feature of his art.

The image and the intent that he creates around himself and his shots is the one of a provocateur. Even the viewer, unconsciously, is provoked by his photographs since he is a sort of involuntary voyeur.

Unique in his genre, Helmut Newton work is remembered for the erotic tension that he wanted to release and describe in every single shot.

Helmut Newton: nudes and erotic content

For Helmut Newton, nudes and erotic content will be essential in his work, which began in Melbourne after the opening of his first photo studio. It was there that he met the woman who would be his muse and lover for over 56 years: June Browne, later known as June Newton.

Later, he worked with several models showing their female bodies without shame and dealing with scandalous themes such as female emancipation, sadomasochism, homosexuality, and voyeurism. 

Helmut Newton models were portrayed on the photos in an ambiguous way, which made the viewers wonder about the role they had: were models given power through these shots or were they simply treated as sexual objects?

Helmut Newton always wanted to see women emancipated, therefore, he didn’t want to portray them as objects but rather as subjects aware of the seductive power and femininity that resided in each of them without ever falling into vulgarity. 

“I hate good taste. It's the worst thing that can happen to a creative person.”

Helmut Newton: Book and Magazines

For Helmut Newton book and magazines, will play a particularly important role throughout his photographic career. 

The fashion magazines he worked for include Vogue, Playboy, Vanity Fair, GQ, Elle and many others. They played a crucial role in the beginning of his career.

The photos were also showed in some exhibitions around the world such as Venice, New York, Paris, London and Moscow.

It was in the mid-seventies that he began his career as an established photographer thanks to his previous work with fashion magazines. With the publication of the first photographic volume White Woman, Helmut Newton revolutionized the concept of fashion photography and wanted to transform the role that women had in Western society.

But it is with the publication of Helmut Newton, Big Nudes that he becomes the protagonist of photography in the twentieth century. The photographic volume is, in fact, determined as it inaugurates a new dimension: the one of the gigantography. With this series, the artist gives the models an erotic and feminine charge that shows women who are strong, determined, and proud of their femininity.

A further milestone is the publication of an unprecedented work by Helmut Newton: SUMO. He started on a brave editorial adventure for the publication of this exceptionally large collection of images. The desire to create a work of these proportions was due to the fact that Newton wanted to build a sort of private exhibition. 

The volume SUMO, published by TASCHEN marked a milestone not only in Newton's career but also for any publishing venture undertaken before then. Both the cost of the volume, defined as the most expensive book published during the twentieth century, and the weight, over 35 kilos, mark a turning point in publishing.

Helmut Newton: photos for sale 

For those who are interested in Helmut Newton photos for sale, Deodato Arte offers a selection of the artist's works for sale online.

If you are interested in knowing more about the photos by Helmut Newton, prices, value or which works will be on display at the Deodato Arte Contemporary Art Gallery, do not hesitate to contact us by sending an e-mail to [email protected].