9/22/2023 0 Comments Helmut newton girl with a gun![]() ![]() Starting in the fifties, with the exception of his Big Nudes, he photographed women “in life” – on the street, in the subway, at dinner, or by the pool – not against a white or arranged studio background, as had long been customary in fashion photography. With just a few select accessories, he created an atmosphere that united the appearance and reality of a luxurious lifestyle. For Yves Saint Laurent, on the other hand, Newton looked to the elegant everyday life of the upper middle classes in the early nineties. ![]() They stand proudly before lush flower garlands in their floral Blumarine dresses, or lounge on transparent inflatable furniture in see-through rubber costumes with a colorful bag by Redwall, or fold their hands in prayer like a nun, in a white outfit by Thierry Mugler. An archaic force seems to have animated this body, the tension is at its peak, just before an intruder – or the photographer, trying to rob the woman of her image – is disarmed and destroyed.Ī change of scene: elsewhere, the models in Newton’s new exhibition are more ladylike, or suggestive. In one of his last photographs, produced for an editorial in the American Vogue, he gives us a particularly striking example: a lean, scantily clad woman stands on a ledge in a quarry, about to hurl a huge boulder at the viewer. Helmut Newton always emphasized how much he was fascinated by strong women. He always viewed his work for magazines and other clients as a source of inspiration, and the editorial pages of fashion magazines as “a kind of laboratory,” in which he could consistently “try out new ideas.” Thus he always avoided producing photos that would “end up in a drawer” instead, he achieved his goal of “having as many people as possible see them.” The framework set by the client and the available budget were the cornerstones of his commercial photography, which also enabled him to realize other projects. Helmut Newton owed his unparalleled success to the world of commerce, as he once stated – not to foundations or museums. It is particularly interesting to compare the settings and compositions he used for the various labels, which required distinct accessories, backdrops, and their own visual language. His fashion images underscore the styles of individual fashion labels, for example the traditionally classic look of Chanel, but for the most part they remain a step ahead of the trend. Spanning five decades, his work encompasses multiple genres and resists categorization the photographer surprised his clients, his team, and perhaps even himself again and again. It’s impossible to pin Helmut Newton down as a photographer of only fashion, only nudes, or only portraits. The result was an extraordinarily unique and successful body of work that reached an audience of millions through magazine distribution. In many of the magazine editorial offices he found fellow creative minds who welcomed his unorthodox visual concepts. According to the photographer, “Throughout the sixties, I did my best to sell them the most sexually suggestive fashion photos.”Īs a photographer working between commerce and art, Helmut Newton succeeded in both surprising and polarizing viewers. Helmut Newton began working for French Vogue in 1961. These include fashion photographs for Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, Blumarine, and Mugler, along with photo editorials for various country editions of Vogue, as well as commissions for other clients. Over 100 such photographs from the past two decades – not previously shown in a museum context – are now being presented at the Helmut Newton Foundation under the title A Gun for Hire. But many of the unconventional images he created in this role revolutionized fashion and product photography. A gun for hire is how Helmut Newton sometimes used to describe himself – as someone commissioned by fashion labels, bathtub manufacturers, or hardware store chains to photograph their products.
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