Controversial photographer Helmut Newton will be turning heads at the Kunsthalle
“People either love my pictures or they loathe them. There’s nothing in between, thank goodness.”
Berlin-born photographer Helmut Newton certainly was correct when he made that statement. His work always provokes strong reactions in people, whether they are admirers or loathers of it, whether they find it intriguing and sensual or little more than perverse and degrading. But how well do people really know Newton’s work? Most people base their opinions on the chic and seductive fashion photography he’s best known for, as well as on his famous 1980 “Big Nudes” series. But these are only the tip of the iceberg. In reality, Newton’s work is much more multifaceted—a fact that the new exhibition starting on September 1 at the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, “Helmut Newton: Sex and Landscapes,” goes some way to prove.
The stunning exhibition comprises more than 80 photographs, both in color and black and white, dating from 1974 to 2002. The idea of combining nudes and landscapes was conceived in 2001 for the inaugural show at the new Zurich gallery of Helmut’s dealers de Pury & Luxembourg. The curator thought that introducing the landscapes would provide a healthy counterbalance to the selection of Helmut’s “tougher” sexual pictures on show. The photographs were taken across Europe and America, and some of them were commissioned as independent works. On his travels around the world, mostly when he was on location for clients, Newton would photograph things he found fascinating—interiors, street scenes, buildings, parks, seascapes and landscapes: the Rhine as seen from the porthole of an aircraft, a long desert highway near Las Vegas, waves crashing on the Monte Carlo shore and Neo-Baroque statues in provincial Italian towns. Though Newton was never secretive about these pictures, the photographs remained a little-known aspect of his oeuvre. For many years, they languished in his archives and were exhibited only when the show in Zurich got underway. By placing these landscapes alongside Newton’s nudes, stark contrasts are created. The nude photographs contain hard, voyeuristic sexual imagery, plus Newton’s trademark style and glamour. Women featured include Charlotte Rampling and Naomi Campbell, among other million-dollar models and society belles. In the photographs, sex becomes a party game. The themes running through the photographs include exhibitionism, voyeurism, sadomasochism, fetishism and crime. Often the female subjects appear to have been caught committing a crime, or as victims of a crime. Indeed, the fact that Newton was fascinated with police photography, and was a fan of Raymond Chandler and Alfred Hitchcock, is apparent in these works. Newton said: “The point of my photography has always been to challenge myself, to go a little further than my Germanic discipline and Teutonic nature would traditionally permit me to. The nudes and bondage shots were my way of going beyond my own bounds.”
Newton, although willing to talk about the process of his photography, particularly the anecdotes involved, always avoided being drawn into explanation or analysis of the resulting images. He claimed his point of view, opinions and everything he wanted to say was present in the photographs, so they could speak for themselves.
Although part of the exhibition has already been shown in Berlin and Zurich, the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung is the first venue at which the entire collection of photographs will be exhibited. So head along, and decide whether you love or hate Newton’s work. Whichever you decide, and no in-betweens please, there is no denying that Newton was technically brilliant and was constantly pushing the boundaries. When he died last year, people the world over acknowledged him as a daring, ingenious artist and one of the masters of 20th-century fashion photography.
<<< “Sex and Landscapes” runs from September 1 until November 1, 2005.