Baby Sumo, 2020

Helmut Newton   Master Artists

Helmut Newton was born in 1920 in Berlin as Helmut Neustädter. He lived in Berlin-Schöneberg. From 1930 until 1934 he attended school at the Heinrich von Treitschke Realgymnasium in Berlin-Schöneberg.

From 1936 until 1938 he did an apprenticeship with the portrait, nude, and fashion photographer Yva (Else Simon, born Neuländer) in Berlin-Charlottenburg. In 1938, he fled Berlin via train towards Trieste, taking two stills cameras with him. He found work in Singapore at the 'Singapore Straits Times'.

In 1940, he arrived in Australia and served for five years in the Australian Army. Six years later he became an Australian citizen. In 1947, Newton met actress June Brunell, who posed as a model for him, whom he married one year later. In London, Helmut Newton acquired a one-year contract at British Vogue, which he quit after 11 months. He was thereafter in Paris, before returning to Melbourne where he had a contract with Australian Vogue.

In 1961, he returned to Paris and got an apartment in the Rue Aubriot in the Marais quarter. At this time he held a full-time position with French Vogue, as well as doing occasional editorial fashion photography for British Vogue, French Elle, and Queen.

In 1966, Newton renewed his contract with French Vogue under the new editor-in-chief Francine Crescent. In 1970, June Newton (alias Alice Springs) began her career as a photographer; when her husband fell ill, she stepped in to shoot a cigarette advertisement.

In 1971, Helmut Newton suffered a heart attack in New York. It was not until 1975 that he had his first exhibitions as a commercially successful photographer, with his first solo exhibit at the Nikon Gallery in Paris. In 1976, he published his first volume of photographs, White Women.

In 1990 he was awarded the French 'grand prix national de la photographie'. In 1992, he was awarded 'officier des arts, lettres et sciences' in Monaco and the Das Grosse Verdienstkreuz of the Federal Republic of Germany.

In 1996, Newton received a commendation of 'commandeur de l'ordre des arts et lettres' by the French Ministry of Culture. In 2000, the Neue National Gallery in Berlin organized a large retrospective for his 80th birthday, that traveled to London, New York, Tokyo, Moscow, and Prague, among others.

In 2003, there was a formal agreement on the establishment of the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin with the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz).

Helmut Newton died in 2004 in Los Angeles, leaving behind an incredible legacy of photographic work. The Helmut Newton Foundation opened shortly after his death.