Annenberg Space for Photography Presents Helmut Newton, June 29 – September 8, 2013

Images from Newton’s first three books—White Women, Sleepless Nights and Big Nudes—will be on view through September 8, 2013.  The exhibition was originally organized by Manfred Heiting for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

“Helmut Newton is one of the most powerful and influential photographers of the past century—the place where art and fashion and subversion and aspiration all collide.  If Newton’s work was controversial, I believe it’s because he expressed the contradictions within all of us, and particularly within the women he photographed so beautifully: empowerment mixed with vulnerability, sensuality tempered by depravity.  Newton deepened our understanding of changing gender roles, of the ways in which beauty creates its own kind of power and corruption.  On top of that, his compositions were brilliantly precise, cinematic in their scope and in their storytelling,” says Wallis Annenberg, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation.

The photographs were made specifically for the exhibition and are large-scale—some reaching nearly 8 x 8 feet.

In addition to the more than 125 prints displayed, the exhibit will feature two films about Newton.

Helmut by June, a documentary film shot and directed by June Newton, Newton’s wife of 56 years, goes behind the scenes at several of his photo shoots and provides an intimate look into his private life and the couple’s remarkable relationship.  From a photo shoot with Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen in Saint-Tropez to a conversation with June in the privacy of their room at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, the man behind so many provocative images is revealed.

Additionally, the Annenberg Space for Photography has commissioned an original documentary film from Arclight Productions.  The film will examine the legendary photographer’s impact on fashion, on women and on photography—as told by men and women who knew him, worked with him and were influenced by his remarkable vision. Models, stylists, fashion editors, photographers and friends will share unique perspectives on a titan of 20^th century fashion photography whose influence lives on.

Key participants in the Arclight Productions film include the “Three Boys from Pasadena“—Mark Arbeit, George Holz and Just Loomis—who were students at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, when they first met Newton in 1979.  They served as Newton’s assistants during one of his most prolific periods, each becoming successful photographers in their own right.  In 2009, their show Three Boys from Pasadena: A Tribute to Helmut Newton, conceived and curated by June Newton, opened at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin.

David Fahey, co-owner of the Fahey/Klein Gallery, also appears and shares personal videos and photographs of Newton taken at the photographer’s favorite Los Angeles haunt, the Chateau Marmont hotel.  Over the course of his 36-year career, Fahey has introduced and exhibited well over 500 artists, taught the history of photography and collaborated on the production of over 45 fine art photography publications.