I have a great appreciation for this well-known fashion photographer since I was exposed to one of his greatest pieces, “Sumo.” After seeing this majestic book, with an externality: Phillipe Starck’s table adjacent to the book, I developed a great respect for this photographer.
Helmut Newton was born on October 31, 1920 in Berlin, Germany. His parents were very lenient to their son’s desire to become a photographer and therefore enrolled him at the American School of Berlin in hope to become a photography star. He was then expelled from the school due to his laziness and huge emphasis on girls and photography. He then met Yva (Else Simon), a great photographer, in 1936, and was tutored by her for several years. He then left on December 5, 1938 to Singapore to become the news photographer for the Singapore Strait Times. He was immediately fired and in 1940 he left to Australia where he served for the Australian army for 5 years. He then opened his own studio and married a future known photographer, Alice Springs. In 1957 he moves to Paris and starts his interest for fashion photography. In May 1961 he was constantly working for the French Vogue where his fashion influence photography prevailed. His first solo exhibition was held at the Galerie Nikon in Paris in 1975, where his work was the influence for his recognition for the best photography of the year in Tokyo, at the Prize of the Art Directors Club.
As once stated, Helmut Newton’s work is mostly influenced in the world of fashion and portraits. The book I own, which is the biggest source of inspiration, is the best work of Helmut Newton until now. Most of his work is in black and white photography giving the viewer a great sense of detail and precision. Most of the work that was done for fashion magazines was done in color photography in order to show the reality of the fashion pieces worn from different designers. A matter of fact, not all of his work to the fashion industry was in color. This might express his interest in black and white photography. “Crocodile eating ballerina, Wuppert 1938 from a Pina Bausch ballet,” (Exhibit A) is an interesting example of the great detail the photographer expresses with the black and white photography. The reason for choosing black and white film is to convince the viewer of the reality of the crocodile. This crocodile is not real and if this picture were to have been in color some of the details that are seen now might not have appeared. This picture also give the viewer a sense of distance and size due to the angle of the picture and the foreground, middle ground, and background.
Three great pictures that Helmut Newton created for Vogue magazines that are still kept in black and white are Exhibit B,C, D. Exhibit B, “French ‘Vogue’, Paris 1971 has a deadly sense to the model due to the shadow that Newton has created surrounding the model. This blurriness also creates somewhat of a phantom look to the model yet maintaining a clear sense of the “fashion” sense to the picture. The model’s face also has a phantom look where her eyes are not visible and all the viewer can see is the whiteness of the eyes creating a deadly look.
Helmut Newton not only focused on fashion photography, he also created memorable portraits like the one seen in Exhibit E, “Andy Warhol, Paris 1974.” Once again we see the photographer use black and white photography and focusing on the deadly sense of the picture. The viewer can see the image of the coffin just to the point of distinction and his face and gestures suggest peaceful rest.
Another interesting picture that resembles a picture already studied in class was is the one in exhibit F, “Grace Jones, Los Angeles 1985.” This picture gives the viewer a sense of imprisonment due to the reflection of the windows on the model’s body. The expression on the face of the model also implies that there is anger and frustration that one might have in a cell. The blackness that surrounds the visible image gives the viewer a sense of loneliness and absence of life, solitude. Once again the viewer can see a sense of distance from the foreground, middle ground and background.
I have a great admiration for Helmut Newton’s work and after taking this class I have learned how to see photography in a different way. Now photography plays a great part in my life and I will admire photography how one should really admire it, not just an image on paper but more than that, which the eyes will not immediately detect.
Biography www.smb.spk-berlin.de/newteng/pdf/biography.pdf
Felix, Zdenek edited by. The Best of Helmut Newton. Thunder’d Mouth Press, 1993.
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