In Milan the great retrospective on Helmut Newton

Milan pays tribute to Helmut Netwon with a major retrospective, conceived on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the photographer’s birth (Berlin, 1920 – Los Angeles, 2004) and postponed due to the pandemic: it opens to the public in the halls of Palazzo Reale from Friday 24 March .

The exhibition «Helmut Newton. Legacy», which can be visited until 25 June 2023, aims to take a fresh look at the uniqueness, style and provocative side of the work of the «bad boy» of world photography. The exhibition is curated by Matthias Harder, director of the Helmut Newton Foundation, and by Denis Curti, artistic director of «Le Stanze della Fotografia a Venezia», and retraces the entire career of one of the photographers through 250 photographs, magazines, documents and videos most loved and discussed of all time.

Alongside the iconic images, a corpus of never-before-seen shots, presented for the first time in Italy, reveal lesser-known aspects of Newton’s work, with a specific focus on the most unconventional fashion shoots. Polaroids and “contact sheets” allow you to understand the creative process behind some of the most significant motifs of Newton’s work, while special publications, archival materials and statements by the photographer allow you to reconstruct the context in which inspiration was born by this extraordinary artist. Along a route divided into chronological chapters, visitors can go through all the phases and evolutions of Newton’s life and career, from the beginning to the last years of production.

The life
Helmut Neustädter was born in Berlin in 1920 into a wealthy family of Jewish origin and soon expressed his interest in photography. He began his training at the age of 16 alongside the famous fashion photographer Yva, but soon left the city to escape persecution by the Jews. After a few trips in which he worked as a photojournalist, he opened a small studio in Melbourne with the support of his future wife, the actress June Brunell. In 1956, working under the anglicized name of Helmut Newton, he began collaborating with Vogue Australia, Vogue England and with Henry Talbot, in their joint studio in Melbourne. The photographer reaches his inimitable style in Paris in the sixties: his dynamic vision manifests itself, for example, in a series of photographs of the productions of the designer André Courrèges that Newton shoots for the British magazine Queen in 1964, or in his works for Vogue France and Elle France.

The partnership with YSL and Lagerfeld
In this period, Newton develops intense collaborations with Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld through which he captures the spirit of the time, marked by the sexual revolution of the end of the decade, without limiting himself to the representation of clothing as an accessory, with photography with a metaphysical cut. In the mid-sixties he buys a house near Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera, a place that will become the backdrop for countless shots. Interest in the theme of the impersonator makes its way, which he begins to elaborate through duplication of images and juxtapositions of mannequins and live models. The various commissions from international magazines lead him to travel to Venice, London, Milan, Rome, Montréal and Tunis. In the seventies, leaving the canons of classic fashion photography, he created increasingly provocative images, distorting sets and using models and stylists in an unconventional way. Newton further expands the creative possibilities of his photographic services: by helicopter, on a beach in Hawaii, in Parisian hotels. With his work, he tests social and moral limits, coming to redefine them. His models appear elegant and erotic, anarchic and playful. These images capture and deceive the eye, only upon closer examination can one distinguish what is real from what is a reconstruction or re-enactment of his ideas and observations. His inspiration for these shots comes from the most disparate sources: surrealism, the fantasy tales of ETA Hoffmann, the transformations seen in Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis.

“Naked and Dressed”
In 1981 he published the innovative series «Naked and Dressed», which appeared in the Italian and French editions of Vogue and subsequently in his books. The new visual concept of the diptychs consists in having the naked and clothed models pose next to each other, narrating the cultural spirit of the time – such as the changes in the role of women in Western society. Parallel to these pictures she produces the first so-called ‘Big Nudes’, both for print and as life-size prints. Starting in 1987 Newton created his own large-format magazine, «Helmut Newton’s Illustrated», consisting of four issues published at irregular intervals. In the nineties Newton uses an even more innovative and avant-garde approach, working both for fashion editorials and for large commissions and advertising campaigns of designers such as Chanel, Thierry Mugler, YSL, Wolford, and clients such as Swarovski and Lavazza. In this period, fashion images began to establish themselves on the art market with «stellar» quotations in the light of the growing awareness of the cultural significance of the genre. Newton receives awards in France, Munich and Germany in recognition of his total dedication to photography.
The passion for the portrait
The latest selection of shots once again sees the main themes explored throughout his career intertwined in Newton’s unique way: fashion, the nude and the portrait. It is a final and powerful testament to the photographer’s unique character and extraordinary vision. Until the end of his life Helmut Newton continued to enchant and provoke with his singular interpretation of femininity. His work for over six decades has defied all attempts at categorisation. No other photographer has ever been more published than Helmut Newton and some of his most iconic images have become part of our collective visual memory. The set-up project calls for the use of sustainable materials – recycled, recyclable and reusable: the floor covering is an Econyl regenerated nylon carpet made by the Aquafil Group with Radici; the walls have MDF paneling covered with cotton fabric supplied by Tessuti di Sondrio/Gruppo Marzotto. At the end of the exhibition, the fabrics will become part of the Best Stock of Cittadella dell’Arte Fashion Best – Fondazione Pistoletto Onlus.