helmut newton interview

helmut newton interview.......................................................................................................................................................................................................

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helmut newton

was born to jewish parents in berlin on october 31, 1920.
he bought his first camera when he was 12.
among his youth's shots: his girlfriends in his mother's clothes.
aged 16, he learnt to use a camera professionally -
he was apprenticed to else simon, a female fashion-and-portrait
photographer who worked under the synonym 'yva'.
his job as an assistant lasted for two years and was abruptly
ended in 1938 when the nazis stepped up their attack on the jews.
yva was forced to close her studio and newton and his parents
fled berlin in 1938. his parents went to south america;
helmut went to singapore, where he took a job as press
photographer. yva later died in a concentration camp.
in 1940, newton moved to australia, where he met his future wife,
june brunell (browne), renowned under her pseudonym
alice springs, in 1947. she is also a photographer
(she photographed her husband in stilettos)
and collaborates with him, curating exhibitions and art-directing
books of his work.
he enlisted in the australian army and served for five years.
he had set up his studio and was working for the newly launched
australian vogue.
1956, newton left melbourne, and moved to london.
1961 newton was in paris and beginning to shoot his most
influential work, this time for french vogue.
in 1971 while in new york for a vogue assignment, newton
suffered a major heart-attack which would change his life
and transform his photography. with the encouragement
from his wife he pursued overtly sexual themes in his photos.
this edge brought him to the forefront of fashion photography
and possibly made him the most influential figure in his field
during the 1970's. in 1975 he had his first solo exhibition in paris.
big nudes, a series of huge portraits of glossy, larger-than-life
women, shot against a white backdrop, was one of the more
remarkable projects of that time.
in 1980 he moved to monte carlo.
he received a number of awards, including the tokyo art directors'
club prize; american institute of graphic arts awards;
and germany's kodak award for photographic books.
in 1989 he was named 'chevalier des arts et des lettres' by
the french minister of culture, and in 1992 he was awarded
the 'grosses bundesverdienstkreuz' by the federal pepublic
of germany and the 'chevalier des arts, lettres et science'
by monaco. life magazine gave him the 'life legend award
for lifetime achievement in magazine photography' in 1999.
the newtons had spent winters in los angeles for the last 25
years. they lived the rest of the year in monte carlo.
newton donated 1000 works to his native city in october 2003 -
a berlin museum to showcase his work will open in june 2004.

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helmut newton passed away january 23, 2004
remembering helmut newton

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we met helmut newton on september 20, 2001
during a presentation of giugiaro design at the milan triennale
(we did not publish the interview, because it was not complete
and we thought we would be able to update it).
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what is the best moment of the day?
working under lights at night.

certainly you notice how women are dressing,
do you have any preferences?
it depends - my tastes change with the times.
every decade women’s bodies seem to be different.
I like haute couture,
today everybody looks the same around the world
... in sneakers and jeans.

what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing?
stilettos (laughs).

when you were a child, did you want to become
a photographer?
in 1936 I arranged to have myself thrown out of school
as a hopeless pupil.
I wanted to be a paparazzo.

do you prefer shooting indoors or outdoors?
everywhere, but not in a studio.

describe your style, like a good friend of yours would
describe it.
if I have really nothing to do,
I start spinning a tale for myself, which is one of
the most pleasant ways of spending time.
my pictures are like a story that has no beginning,
no middle, and no end.

do you prefer black and white photography?
I shoot both color and black-and-white film.
you never know.

can you describe an evolution in your work from your
first projects to the present day?
to have taboos, then to get around them - that's interesting.
looking back at my old fashion photographs I wonder :
how the hell did I have the courage to go through all these
complications ?

over the course of your artistic career,
you've been called a lot of things: sexist, visionary...
did you ever worked for a porno magazine?
I was a contributor for playboy for about twenty years.
my work was even too risky for playboy.
they asked me - please do something for us
… but nothing as kinky as what you do for french vogue'.

any advice for the young?
there are two dirty words in photography; one is 'art',
and the other is 'good taste'.
beauty is intellect.
and glamour has nothing to do with money.

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