Helmut Newton

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Helmut Newton, born Helmut Neustädter (31 October 1920, Berlin, Germany – 23 January 2004, West Hollywood, California, USA) was a German-Australian fashion photographer noted for his nude studies of women.

Born in Berlin to a German-Jewish button-factory owner and an American mother, Newton attended the Heinrich-von-Treitschke-Realgymnasium and the American School in Berlin. Interested in photography from the age of twelve when he purchased his first camera, he worked for the German photographer Yva (Else Neulander Simon) from 1936. The increasingly oppressive restrictions placed on Jews by the Nuremberg laws meant that his father lost control of the factory in which he manufactured buttons and buckles; he was even briefly interned in a concentration camp. 'Kristallnacht' on 9 November 1938 compelled the family to leave Germany. Newton's parents fled to Chile. He was issued with a passport just after turning 18, and left Germany on 5 December 1938. At Trieste he boarded the 'Conte Rosso' (along with about two hundred others escaping the Nazis) intending to journey to China. After arriving in Singapore he decided to remain as a reporter for the Straits Times and worked as a portrait photographer. He died at the age of 83 on 23 January 2004 in Los Angeles (car accident)

Helmut Newton's 1952 portrait of Laurel Martyn, National Library of Australia
Helmut Newton's grave at Städtischen Friedhof III in Berlin

Newton was interned by British authorities while in Singapore, and was sent to Australia on board the 'Queen Mary', arriving in Sydney on 27 September 1940[1]. Internees travelled to the camp of Tatura, Victoria by train under armed guard. He was released from internment in 1942, and briefly worked as a fruit-picker in northern Victoria. In April 1942, he enlisted with the Australian Army and worked as a truck driver. After the war, in 1945 he became an Australian citizen, and changed his name to Newton in 1946. In 1948 he married actress June Browne, who performed under the stage-name 'June Brunell'. She later became a successful photographer under the ironic pseudonym 'Alice Springs' (after Alice Springs, the central Australian town).

In 1946, Newton set up a studio in fashionable Flinders Lane and worked primarily on fashion photography in the affluent post-war years. He shared his first joint exhibition in May 1953 with Wolfgang Sievers, a German refugee like himself who had also served in the same Company. The exhibition of 'New Visions in Photography' was held at the Federal Hotel in Collins Street and was probably the first glimpse of 'New Objectivity' photography in Australia. Newton went into partnership with Henry Talbot, a fellow German Jew who had also been interned at Tatura, and his association with the studio continued even after 1957 when he left Australia for London. The studio was renamed 'Helmut Newton and Henry Talbot'.

Newton's growing reputation as a fashion photographer was rewarded when he secured a commission to illustrate fashions in a special Australian supplement for Vogue magazine, published in January 1956. He won a twelve-month contract with British Vogue and he left for London in February 1957, leaving Talbot to manage the business. He left the magazine before the end of his contract and went to Paris where he worked for French and German magazines. He returned to Melbourne in March 1959 to a contract for Australian Vogue.

He settled in Paris in 1961 and continued work as a fashion photographer. His works appeared in magazines including, most significantly, French Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. He established a particular style marked by erotic, stylised scenes, often with sado-masochistic and fetishistic subtexts. A heart attack in 1970 slowed his output somewhat but he extended his work and his notoriety/fame greatly increased, notably with his 1980 "Big Nudes" series which marked the pinnacle of his erotic-urban style, underpinned with excellent technical skills. He also worked in portraiture and more fantastical studies.

Newton shot a number of pictorials for Playboy, including pictorials of Nastassia Kinski and Kristine DeBell .[1], Original prints of the photographs from his August, 1976 pictorial of DeBell, "200 Motels, or How I Spent My Summer Vacation" were sold at auctions of Playboy archives by Bonhams in 2002 for $21,075.[2] and by Christies in December 2003 for $26,290.[3]


Newton was extremely fond of his hometown of Berlin, and in October 2003 he donated an extensive photo collection to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, establishing the Helmut Newton Foundation. The foundation's aim is the conservation, protection and presentation of the oeuvre of Helmut Newton and Alice Springs.

In his later life, Newton lived in Monte Carlo and Los Angeles. He was killed when his car hit a wall in the driveway of the famous Chateau Marmont, the hotel on Sunset Boulevard which had for several years served as his residence in Southern California. It has been speculated that Newton suffered a heart attack in the moments before the collision.[citation needed] His ashes are buried next to Marlene Dietrich at the Städtischen Friedhof III in Berlin.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Newton, Helmut, Playboy:Helmut Newton, Chronicle Books (2005)
  2. ^ Herman, Eric, "For Playboy lovers, cup runneth over", NY Daily News (July 20, 2003)
  3. ^ Christies Lot 257/Sale 1325

[edit] Published Works

  • Marshall Blonsky & Helmut Newton, Private Property, Schirmer Art Books, 1989
  • Guy Featherstone, 'Helmut Newton's Australian years', in The La Trobe Journal, The State Library of Victoria Foundation, No 76, Spring, 2005
  • Klaus Honnef & Helmut Newton, Helmut Newton: Portraits, Schirmer Art Books, 1986
  • Klaus Neumann, 'In the Interest of National Security: Civilian Internment in Australia during World War II', Canberra: National Archives of Australia, 2006.
  • Helmut Newton, White Women, New York: Congreve, 1976
  • Helmut Newton, Sleepless Nights, New York: Congreve, 1978
  • Helmut Newton, Big Nudes, Paris: Editions du Regard, 1981
  • Helmut Newton, World Without Men, New York: Xavier Moreau, 1984
  • Helmut Newton & June Newton, Helmut Newton Work, edited by Manfred Heiting, Taschen, 2000
  • Helmut Newton, Sumo, Taschen, 2000
  • Helmut Newton, Autobiography, Nan A. Talese, 2003
  • Helmut Newton, A Gun for Hire, edited by June Newton, Taschen, 2005
  • Helmut Newton, Playboy:Helmut Newton, Chronicle Books (2005)

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Newton"
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