In his works, German-Australian photographer Helmut Newton transports us into his manifold of desire and eros. His noir fashion photographs boast an ineffable quality, capturing women as if they exist in a world beyond our own. Often rendered in monochrome, nonentities are transformed into symbols of fetish and lithe bodies—often nude—leaning against hotel lobby walls or splaying themselves across rumpled bedsheets. To perfect these images, Newton used Polaroids as a preemptive tool to gauge how his initial compositions would translate to the final image.

From March 2025, the Helmut Newton Foundation will be showcasing Polaroids, a group exhibition featuring original SX-70 and Polacolour prints by Newton. The exhibition reveals the first step in Newton’s process, allowing us to peer into his figurative sketchbook and observe the origins of his visual imagination. Exhibition Curator Dr. Matthias Harder dials in from Berlin, Newton’s birthplace and the site of the exhibition, to discuss the photographer’s work.

LAMEAH NAYEEM Newton once claimed, “In my vocabulary there are two bad phrases: art and good taste.” What are your thoughts on this, having just curated this exhibition?

MATTHIAS HARDER He always said, "I'm not an artist, I'm a photographer." And he was right. There was a fine line between the two. That edge was very thin. 

You could call anything art, but ultimately, it's a personal distinction. I consider some of Helmut's photographs, and others as well, to be art, of course. But then there's that phrase ‘good taste’. I understand why some see his work as bad. It wasn't for me, but for Helmut, it was. He was always pushing against something. He fulfilled so many demands for magazines, for clients,but he still held to that fine line between widely accepted moral principles and something new, something astonishing, something that made us think.

LN The exhibition follows a more or less chronological structure. What kind of evolution do you see across Newton’s work?

MH We begin the exhibition with a Polaroid from 1965, as we have no earlier ones, and end with what is believed to be the last image he ever took in Monte Carlo in 2003. That final photograph is striking. It feels like his farewell from the world because it looks like mourning wives, mourning women. Soon after, he left for Berlin, signed a contract, then travelled to LA, where he passed away. His final images were published in Italian Vogue on the very day of his death.

Over five decades—the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and early 2000s—we see the evolution of fashion and style and Newton’s persistent irreverence. We see how naughty he was until the end of his life, always challenging notions of good taste. However, he rarely used Polaroids for portraits, as sitters would demand to see how they looked, which is something he avoided.

LN Why is that?

MH If you show pictures to the sitters, they could argue, and he always wanted to be in the driver’s seat. Some clients were probably a little afraid or anxious, but he convinced them in the end. Something like this happened with Bvlgari. He did a commercial shoot for them, but it was too open, too much, and they rejected it.

LN The photographs were never published?

MH It was published in French Vogue. There was a huge ten-page jewellery spread, and he included the rejected picture in the magazine. He also had tiny notebooks where he would scratch things off and write down notes—just a simple, “Done. French Vogue 94.”

There was always something about Newton being too edgy or going too far. Take Van Cleef & Arpels, for example. He shot an ad campaign for their high-end jewellery, but instead of showcasing the diamonds, he took the model to a radiologist. The result? You only saw the model’s skeleton. The diamonds disappeared because carbon is transparent to X-rays. It was an ad campaign where the product wasn’t even visible.

The campaign flipped expectations by not showing beauty or seduction, the so-called essence of fashion. In the 90s, this was especially relevant. Magazines like i-D and The Face championed raw, radical chic photography. It wasn’t about being conventionally beautiful anymore. Newton had an instinct for this across decades. He could visualise shifts in the zeitgeist before they happened. And that’s exactly what we see in this exhibition.

LN Newton has spoken about the extensive preparation involved in his photoshoots. How do the spontaneity and unpredictability of Polaroids reveal a lesser-explored aspect of his practice?

MH He loved that kind of spontaneity; it was instant photography. Immediately visible, quick, and responsive. His work remained entirely analogue; he never touched a digital camera. Helmut used Polaroids as sketches to check composition, lighting, the spatiality of the image. He could ask, “Do I need five figures, or just three? Should it be a group or a single man and woman?” He played around to create the first layer of narrative. 

His storytelling drew from literature, cinema, and his own observations. Living in Paris, he constantly saw couples arguing in the streets, moments of everyday life that he wove into his fashion photography. But a tension also exists in his works because everything is fact-based, yet everything is also fiction. 

LN How would you define Newton's relationship with his camera? Was it more of an extension of his own gaze or a window into his imagined world? 

MH The camera functioned as both. It allowed the photographer to remain hidden, observing from behind the lens. With a Hasselblad, for example, you look down into the camera rather than directly at the subject, making yourself less visible to the sitter and the scene. Alternatively, looking through a camera with one eye offers a different form of engagement.

Newton played with this dynamic. The camera, as a machine, could capture and visualise everything, but ultimately, it was just a tool. The real artistry was in his mind. He created the scene before the camera even came into play.

He was more like a film director, orchestrating the composition while also acting as the cameraman. He gave directions to his 'actors' because everyone must perform in front of his camera, every frame was turned into a stage, turning them into performers. Every situation he captured became a stage. In hotel lobbies, bedrooms, open spaces, his sitters functioned as both objects and subjects. 

LN Would you say his works are more passion or pragmatism?

MH He was more passionate than pragmatic. He remained committed to his artistic instincts. While pragmatism was sometimes necessary, his passion ultimately drove his approach.

LN The term ‘voyeuristic’ is frequently used to describe Newton’s works, and he himself has claimed to be a voyeur. Do you agree? 

MH Absolutely. We have several images that illustrate the concept of voyeurism—one, for example, shows a woman looking through a keyhole. Newton once said that any photographer who claims not to be a voyeur is lying. To create great photography, in any field, there has to be an element of voyeurism. But voyeurism doesn’t exist without exhibitionism. Some people have an exhibitionistic nature, and when that meets a voyeuristic gaze, there’s a kind of synergy—a game of sorts.

LN Do you think in Newton's case, it's a game to win?

MH It has nothing to do with winning or losing. Newton preferred interactions on equal footing. Looking at his work, you can see that he valued a dynamic where both participants engaged at eye level. It wasn’t a fight; it was a playful back-and-forth, almost like wrestling. When both sides are equal, you can play the game forever.

Helmut and his wife, June Newton, played this game for 55 years—they were at eye level with each other. Someone once told me that as Helmut was leaving their apartment, he asked, “Darling, shall I bring you something?” June simply replied, “Astonish me.”

That sense of astonishment defined his life, his photography, and their relationship. He always played a game of intellect.

LN In the past, Newton cited Saint-Laurent, Thierry Mugler and John Galliano as masters of fashion since they broke with tradition. As a master of fashion photography, how do you think Newton usurps tradition?

MH Everyone is surrounded by ideas, and every artist has their masters. In Newton’s case, his masters were Martin Munkácsi, Erich Salomon, and, of course, he trained at Yva’s studio. He absorbed ideas like a sponge, drawing inspiration from photography, cinema, everywhere.

While he was part of a photographic tradition, he didn’t just follow it. He never wanted to imitate the masters or be too 'close' to their works. So when he developed his own style, he became the reference point for others.

Had you asked him, he likely would have dismissed tradition, insisting, “I do my own thing.” But from a historical perspective, his impact is undeniable. He occupies a significant place in photography, with a legacy so influential that many who came after him—Vanessa Beecroft, Juergen Teller—cannot be considered without acknowledging Newton’s influence. He didn’t just follow a tradition; he created one.

LN As a photographer, he had a unique way of viewing and composing the human body. What influenced Newton’s singular perspective?

MH He had a major heart attack in 1971 and was close to death. Afterwards, he spoke about dreaming of beauty, of beautiful women, la la la. Maybe it was legend, maybe it was true. From that point on, he left behind shooting for major magazines and only did what he wanted to do.

The 1980s became his "nude decade." To him, there wasn’t much difference between a clothed and an unclothed body. He created his famous "Naked and Dressed" series, playing with juxtaposition.

His focus was always on the physicality of the body. He loved muscles, but not in the exaggerated bodybuilder sense. As a big swimmer, he appreciated the natural form. His first nude photographs were private, intimate shots of June—self-portraits, mutual portraits—in their garden in southern France. It all began as an exploration of their relationship, walking naked, observing each other. It wasn’t about beauty, but the human body in its natural form. In the 1970s, this was everywhere—on beaches in Saint-Tropez, where they and their friends sunbathed and swam. What started as private photography evolved into professional work.

As a heterosexual man, he was naturally drawn to women, and that attraction shaped his work. His images, his vision, all fit together seamlessly. 

A woman in an Yves Saint Laurent or Mugler dress—these garments were designed to seduce, and he knew how to capture that seduction. He was provocative, like the designers themselves, and his photography reflected that. He was passionate about legs! His fascination can be traced back to the 1930s, to Yva’s iconic leg portraits, to Marlene Dietrich, and to the aesthetics of the Weimar Republic. It was all about physicality and seduction.

LN Newton, as a photographer, tried to remain unbiased when shooting his subjects. Do you think there are any images in this exhibition that might betray his emotions so we see Newton, the man, rather than Newton, the photographer? Does that distinction even exist?

MH We start with private pictures from the Us and Them exhibition, which Helmut and June compiled in the late 1990s to reflect on their shared work. The Polaroid exhibition also begins with these mutual portraits and self-portraits. You see the man, the person, the human creature, the lover—June’s husband—and vice versa. These are intimate portraits of a couple.

In his professional work, however, there was no space for Newton himself. While everything came from his mind, his visualisations, his concepts, and his work were purely professional. It had everything to do with him and nothing at the same time. Unlike other photographers, such as Vivian Maier, who often included self-portraits in reflections and mirrors, Newton rarely became part of the image.

There is a clear distinction between Newton as a private person and Newton as a photographer. However, there is no separation between his work for magazines and his work for paying clients like Yves Saint Laurent and Thierry Mugler. He established his signature style in the 1960s, and clients booked him for that very reason. Everyone knew what to expect. There were no surprises. If you hired Newton, you knew exactly what the result would be.

The Polaroids exhibition, hosted by the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, is open until July 27, 2025.