Helmut Newton: A Man of Powerful Images Narration.

Helmut Newton: A Man of Powerful Images Narration.

Many of you probably know this picture. It’s called “A Dame and a Doberman”. 

It shows a naked Cindy Crawford and It is one of the business cards of a famous German master. 

The main secret of the popularity of this photograph was the motto “Sex helps to sell” which is one of the 

 catchphrases of one of the world's famous photographer- Helmut Newton.

Helmut was a classic in his lifetime. His style was a reflection of himself- his desires and fantasies and many celebrities who worked with the photographer, considered it an honor.

Throughout his lifetime, Helmut Newton created some unique and provocative aesthetics.

Helmut Neustedter had a difficult childhood and youth.

Helmut was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Berlin 1920.

He received his first camera at 12 years old, and often neglected his studies in school to pursue photography.

He eventually dropped out of school and instead took up a job with famous German photographer Else Simon. 

But his ambitions suffered a blow as his family had to leave Germany due to the German campaign against Jews and Newton found himself in Singapore. 

Soon, photography took a backseat as Newton had to serve in the ‘Australian Army’ for five years. 

Following his discharge from the army, he acquired Australian citizenship and changed his last name from Neustdter to Newton.

In 1946, he established a photo studio in Melbourne to work on fashion and theatre photography.

For the next fifteen years, he built up a reputation for himself and got his big break by landing a job with the ‘French Vogue’, where he accomplished his best work and gained international fame and recognition, as well as notoriety. 

His style was characterized by bold, sensual and visually arresting portrayals of women shot aesthetically, with impeccable technical details. 

In 1957, his photos spurred interest from the UK version of vogue magazine. Unfortunately, they were less suitable because they were too provocative for a prim country with a queen at its head.

Editorial orders and moral principles smothered a true photographer in Newton. At first, he tried to make concessions and put on a veil of decency, but then he waved his hand and left Vogue UK. 

After many years of searching, he began to collaborate with Vogue Paris – perhaps for a country of romance and kissing, his work was what it needed. 

Later, other branches of the popular glossy magazine like Harper’s Bazaar’, ‘Nova’, ‘Queen’, ‘Marie-Claire’, ‘Elle’, ‘Playboy’ and different editions of ‘Vogue’ accepted the master’s style.

Another symbolic work from this album was a picture of Elsa Peretti on the roof of a skyscraper. All kinds of remakes of this photo are still found on the web. “

Newton clearly knew a lot about provocation! And he must have studied male psychology very well. That’s the motto “Sex helps sell” in action. 

But his photos didn’t always stir up the imagination. “Often men confessed to me that my series of naked women caused them, inner terror. That’s the effect I like,” said the photographer once.

He continued to travel later in life, dividing his time between his homes in Monte Carlo and Los Angeles. In 2003, he died in a car crash in Los Angeles, at 84 years old.

Newton received the German Kodak Award for Photographic Books, a Life Legend Award from Life magazine, and an award from the American Institute for Graphic Arts.