The three-part exhibition “Saul Leiter. David Lynch. Helmut Newton: Nudes” opened at the Helmut Newton Foundation on 30 November 2018. It marks the first time in the history of the Berlin institution that an exhibition will be dedicated exclusively to the genre of nude photography.
Today, we present the Helmut Newton section:
Helmut Newton began photographing nudes in the 1970s, both independently and incorporated into his fashion photography, and worked on this genre until the end of his life in 2004. His series “Naked and Dressed”, which marks the transition from fashion to nudes in his work, and his “Big Nudes” made him world-famous and inspired countless photographers and other visual artists to imitate or re-interpret them. This new presentation brings together around 80 iconic nudes from well-known exhibitions and projects such as “Helmut Newton’s Illustrated: Pictures from an Exhibition”, “White Women”, “Sleepless Nights”, “Big Nudes”, “Sex and Landscapes”, “Work”, and “Us and Them” as well as some 40 images from the foundation archive that have not yet been exhibited, including numerous original Polaroids. Newton created an incomparable body of work, full of subtle seduction and timeless elegance, especially in the nude genre. He depicts naked bodies populating swimming pools, ingenious shots of undressed mannequins and other fashion-focused nudes, half-clothed models wearing orthopedic prostheses, and provocative stagings of sexual obsession by a female cast – which open up a realm of associations where our imagination can wander.
Saul Leiter. David Lynch. Helmut Newton: Nudes
December 1st, 2018 – May 19th, 2019
Helmut Newton Foundation
Jebensstraße 2, 10623 Berlin
