ART SPATE: BAD BOY HELMUT NEWTON

Helmut Newton was an Australian-German photographer born in 1920 in Berlin and died four years after the millennium. He was from a Jewish background, the son of Klara and Max Neustädte. He went to the Heinrich-von-Treitschke-Realgymnasium in Berlin and then to an American School in the same city.

Newton was keen to discover the horizons of photography at a very young age, when he was just twelve years old.

He later purchased his own personal camera and began working for Elsie Neuländer Simon, a German photographer from 1936 onwards. At this time, Jews were being oppressed increasingly in Germany by the Nuremberg law and because of this Newton’s father lost hold over his factory that produced buckles and buttons. Hence, the family was forced to migrate. While Newton’s family was in South America, he made his journey to Singapore and decided to remain there first as a photographer for Straits Times and eventually as a portrait photographer.

Guided by a passion for the strength and allure of the female form, Newton reflected the sexual revolution of the 1960's and 70's, which coincided with his rise to fame. He photographed some of the most beautiful women in the world in poses that emphasized their sexuality and often an accompanying sense of danger and violence.

His images were calculated to shock, often featuring tall, blond, sometimes naked women in heels, perhaps illuminated by headlights or trapped in a dark alley. His work was closely associated with designers like Yves Saint Laurent, whose penchant for tight, wide-shouldered suits and long-legged models suited him.

Along with photographers like Herb Ritts, Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, Newton moved fashion photography from a staid reflection of this year's styles to a more artful presentation of mood and story.