Helmut Newton: the stern years 1973–2000 (Stern Fotografie) (English, German, English and German Edition)
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Photography & Video
Helmut Newton: the stern years 1973–2000 (Stern Fotografie) (English, German, English and German Edition) Details
From the Inside Flap Of interest to both scholars and lovers ofNewton's signature style Many of the images have never before beenpublished in book form Read more
Reviews
After reviewing the Helmut Newton Polaroid Collection and coming away very unsatisfied, it was nice to see some of the better examples of Newton's quirky, erotic fashion style again. As can be seen in this 63rd issue of "Stern FOTOGAFIE", his Stern assignments had a strong influence on the development of Helmut Newton's unusual style. There is just something comforting about the way he portrays unbreakable, tough-as-nails and unattainably beautiful women. Stern was the West German magazine that gave Helmut Newton "a free hand to stage-manage and photograph the way he wanted: sex and luxury, eroticism and elegance." It also gave him the budget to travel the world with a bevy of beautiful models and "mountains of new and expensive clothes in their luggage." "Newton never showed a weak, humiliated or inferior women. His women were never the object of the viewer, but rather the subject of some happening." "Newton's photos portray women as powerful, superior beings. The precise, subtle way Newton accentuated his photos is evident in imperceptible details. `Never laugh--Helmut didn't like models laughing,' Barbara Larcher recalls. Newton thought that laugher could be seen as weakness, an invitation or even stupidity. Not laughing signifies superiority. And elegance." One strange aspect of many of Newton's models was their strong resemblance to the perfect German Super Woman as epitomized by Hitler's favorite film maker Leni Riefenstah. Since Newton was Jewish and escaped Berlin at the last possible moment only to be constantly in fear of the Nazi Jew hunters as he fled around the entire planet, it's somewhat surprising that he still cherished these Nazi versions of the perfect German women. He obviously retained the beauty standard he was exposed to in his teenage years and ignored the fact that those ideals were partially the result of the Nazi vision of things. Many of his women models are definitely superior in a type of Nordic female strength and toughness that brings out the dominatrix qualities in them. Their looks and stern demeanor fascinate men and provoke erotic fantasies in a German cabaret sort of way. The book's text writer Jochen Siemens gives a brief but perceptive insight into Newton and his style. "Nakedness as an expression of strength is possibly the most frequently overlooked quality in Newton's pictures." Newton's style was so different and so respected by magazine editors that he was allowed to break all the rules in order to achieve his vision. Woman flocked to be photographed by him. They must have sensed that his portraits of them would "reveal them as powerful, superior beings" for the entire world to behold. And while Newton didn't want his models to laugh in his pictures, this book contains some notable examples of his models ignoring that advice. Laughter is very much on display in his series of pictures of a woman that could be described as "Long Tall Sally" and her petite submissive "Barbie Doll" who is so tiny she fits in a metal suitcase that her partner can haul around. This series from 1973 is hysterical so it's not surprising that the models in it were unable to keep from smiling and giggling. It's a very funny, very erotic series of photos. It's fun to try and figure out what product was being advertised in these photos as well as in many of Helmut's other photos. Ditto for the 1993 single image from the Stern article on "Voyerismus, Las Angles." Is the product that is paying for the ad a luggage company or a maker of men and women's slacks since they are the only clothing still being worn by the three models? At least in the series of models in ultra-expensive designer clothes lying on excavator shovels at a building construction site, the viewer will know that it's the clothes the models are getting filthy that is the product being advertised--not the heavy construction equipment. Newton was definitely an original that used his dry sense of humor and love of the female body to change the definition of fashion photography. The other question viewers of this book will no doubt have is why is Helmut Newton always wearing that long trench coat even when inside photographing totally nude (except for the high heels) women? It makes him look a little like the popular television detective "Columbo" played so well by Peter Falk who was the very antithesis of Helmut Newton. Of course Newton's trench coat was a much better brand and it certainly wasn't rumpled.
