Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton (born in Berlin, Germany on Oct. 31, 1920 – Jan. 23, 2004 in California) was born Helmut Neustadter was best known for his nude photography, especially in Playboy Magazine and changed how the world viewed these covertly sexual images.
Style Fashion and Nude Photographer
Beginnings Helmut Newton purchased his first camera at age 12 and became interested in photography from them on. He also attended American and German schools. His early exposure from his brother to the prostitute district in Berlin would later influence his career in nude photography.
Career Newton quickly set up a studio in fashionable Flinders Lane as a fashion photographer in 1946 in the post-war years. Later after a number of exhibits in Germany and Australia Helmut partnered with Henry Talbot, who also interned at Tatura, a training camp with Newton. They later named a studio “Helmut Newton and Henry Talbot”. Later with his growing reputation as a fashion photographer he worked in a special assignment for an Australian supplement for Vogue magazine which was published in January 1956. Later he went on to work for a number of French, German and British magazines before returning to Melbourne in March 1959 for Australian Vogue. Then in 1961 he finally settled in Paris and worked for Harper’s Bazaar and French Vogue. It was not until the 1980’s after he has suffered a heart attack that he started his “Big Nudes” series and changed the way nudes were viewed in the world.
Honors In 1999 Life magazine awarded Helmut Newton with the Life Legend Award for Lifetime Achievement in Magazine Photography. He also received American Institute of Graphic Arts award, Germany’s Kodak Award for Photographic Books and the Tokyo Art Director’s Club prize.
Helmut Newton died on January 24, 2004 in an automobile accident when his car hit a wall near the famous Chateau Marmont in California. His ashes are buried in Berlin next to Marlene Dietrich.
http://www.helmutnewton.com
Comments
There are 3 comments for this post.
Who could forget Helmut Newton’s photos in Playboy mazagine? I used to look thru my dad’s secret stash and see his sexy and amazing photos. Forever stays in my mind.
This photographer’s black and white photos are extremely sexy and always in good taste.
Helmut was such an amazing talent. Whether it was nudes or fashion photography, his photographs were always stunning, clean cut and sharp. I wonder what his photographs would be like if he had not suffered a heart attack in the 1980’s.