The Private Property Suite I – III Portfolio by Helmut Newton

The mythic Private Property Suite I-III portfolio composed of 45 shots and conceived by Helmut Newton in 1984 has just made its entrance into the BNF. June Newton, the artist’s widow, and the Newton Foundation of Berlin were chosen to give the museum a series of photographs including portraits, fashion photos, and erotic shots from between 1972 and 1983. The most arresting images from this period were selected and can now be scrutinized, analyzed, deconstructed, and quite simply admired at the BNF’s Département des Estampes et de la Photographie. The German photographer is once more being honored after the first French restrospective that the Grand Palais dedicated to him in Spring 2012. “I’m happy that the Helmut Newton exhibit’s success at the Grand Palais convinced June Newton and the Netwon Foundation of Berlin to give France, through the magnificent establishment that is the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, an ensemble of remarkable photographs that were missing in his collections.” declared Jean-Paul Cluzel, President of the Union of National Museums – Grand Palais.

Helmut Newton was born in Berlin and spent his childhood in Germany. In 1940 he settled in Australia and served in the national Army for 5 years before obtaining Australian citizenship. In 1947 he met actress June Brunell who would become his wife, the love of his life, his closest collaborator and eternal accomplice. His career in photography started in 1956, and he worked with the biggest names in fashion, “Vogue” and “Elle” at the forefront. Newton’s style started to make a name for itself starting in the 70s. The photographer would ignore social conventions throughout his entire career; popular thought suffocated him, so he didn’t resemble any of his peers and would venture off the beaten path. For him, someone who was never afraid of words: “There are two obscenities in photography: art and good taste”. His favorite subjects were almost an obsession: money, sex, power, and nudity were his leitmotivs. He admitted a real admiration for the female body. Through his subversive work on nudes, he shed light on all the power and strength of a woman’s body, as if to better liberate it. Through his lens, she becomes a conquering dominatrix, an urban Amazon full of self-assurance. Intentionally cultivating a taste for displeasing and a slight penchant for vulgarity, he invented porno-chic, scandalous but always glamorous. Helmut Newton played with contrasts and almost always remained loyal to black and white. His decorums were anchored in the raw reality of everyday life; an alley or a hotel room were enough for him to capture the moment.

“A good fashion photograph must resemble anything but a fashion photograph. A portrait, a souvenir, a paparazzi photograph,” affirms the artist in the documentary “Helmut by June”. His fashion photographs what with their unique and inimitable style sometimes look like tabloid shots. For Hermès, he dressed up a woman in a black bra and riding boots, a saddle on her back. For his good friend Yves Saint Laurent’s label, he immortalized the famed rue Aubriot pants-suit, a shot that would be published in Vogue France in 1975. He also did celebrity portraits of everyone from Catherine Deneuve to Charlotte Rampling, Salvador Dali to Andy Warhol. “I like and seek out reactions. I don’t like kindness or gentleness,” said Helmut Newton, who strove throughout his entire career to mix genres and turn the rules upside down to reinvent photography.