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Helmut Newton's Wicked World
A new exhibition in Berlin celebrates the larger-than-life photographic fantasies of the iconic German photographer. VIEW OUR (NSFW) GALLERY.
The late Helmut Newton’s photography was always a potent cocktail of shock and subtlety, of haute couture and our basest desires: A nude model poses in a lavish parlor—in a neck brace and a leg cast. The magnificent Catherine Deneuve is lit against a concrete wall—at gunpoint. Newton’s photographic fantasies always seemed larger than life so it seemed fitting in 1999 when the German publisher Taschen produced a monograph of unprecedented heft and cost: SUMO, a 66-pound, 464-page, limited edition of 10,000 signed by Newton with a stand designed by Philippe Starck for $15,000. An exhibition now viewed at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin commemorates the 10th anniversary of SUMO—which Taschen will publish in a considerably more petite size in September—with an exhibition of photographs from its pages. The work of Newton’s protégés Mark Arbeit, George Holz, and Just Loomis—Three Boys from Pasedena—is also on exhibit.
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Newton had an eye for creating mes en scene. They range from the sophisticated Deneuve photo wherein the red and white polka dot cuff with gold bracelet adorning the wrist of the gun toter echoes the red tartan plaid of the actor's skirt and her wrist accoutrement. The mesh elevator cage, the open door with the diamond pattern, the uniformed maid peering out to the begowned model standing in the hallway all achieve visual interest through the use of pattern and texture but fail ultimately to achieve more than a glib, flat, superficial glamour that is transient, boring. His later photos focus more on subject matter that have a whiff of Diane Arbus about them - the closeup of the gap-tooth girl, the 3 young boys line up staring into the camera. As a genre photographer, Newton's work has a sinister, rude, world weary malignancy that doesn't startle the eye as much as famish it.
I think black and whites and dark room photography, and the tones etc, is very different than the modern photo shop days, I sort of miss my days in the dark room. There was something about waiting to see how the pics turned out, as well as just being in the dark room with all the chemicals and stuff, that anticipating part I think is missing now. Sort of like typesetting, though computers are great, a person doesn't need patience the way they used to. I think everyone likes gratification as soon as possible, but these days, the speed of everything is quiet amazing compared to the way it used to be.
Brilliant Photographer.
Wonderful composition.
Beautiful Models.
Boring Photography.
Thank you.
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