“Every time Helmut and I were sitting in a café, we’d watch people and make up stories about them. Where were they from? What were
“He was an unlikely combination of Berlin ‘naughty boy’, gentleman, provocateur, anarchist, and, of course, an incredible artist. It definitely reflects the story of his life.” It is absolutely no surprise that photos by this Jewish boy from Berlin – who grew up with the great social freedoms of the Weimar Republic and came of age in the dark Hitler years – are so full of contradictions: disturbing and seductive, kitsch and ultra-sophisticated, erotic and repulsive.
Claudia Schiffer in a shot by Alexander Hein, Banbury 2019. Schiffer and the other women in the following images appear in the documentary film “Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful”, by Gero von Boehm.
In von Boehm’s film, we see Susan Sontag accuse Newton of producing misogynist images, but all of his muses and models talk about how empowered they felt posing nude for him. Helmut talks about escaping from Nazi Berlin, “where you could end up in a concentration camp for crossing against a red light,” but we also learn that one of his biggest aesthetic influences was Leni Riefenstahl, who made propaganda films for the Reich. In the film, he confidently claims that he was only concerned with what is on the outside – face, chest, legs – but then we see him produce some of the sharpest portraits of power and society in the last century. Newton says that the worst words that can be used to describe his work are “art” and “tasteful,” but in the documentary, we see some of the greatest works of art in recent photography history being created. The film is a uniquely balanced portrait of all of the facets of a complex man and a gifted artist, without criticism or judgment, giving the viewer the burden and honour of connecting the dots, as much as they seem to go in opposite directions.
But then again, Newton was actually the first to admit that he found opposing forces incredibly exciting. One of the first things he says in the documentary is, “Most photographers are terribly boring, as are films about them.”
Nadja Auermann filmed by Sven Jakob-Engelmann, Berlin 2019.
How did you convince him to shoot The Bad and the Beautiful?
I always thought his images belonged on the big screen, but I can’t say he was very excited about being subjected to the same treatment as his models. He didn’t like the idea of not being in control. It took me almost two years to convince him to do this documentary. Actually, to convince them, because obviously, his wife June also had to be on board.
How did you become friends?
By chance. We met in Paris at the home of a mutual friend. We exchanged knowing looks throughout the entire dinner because he was seated next to this high-society Parisian blonde who kept making statements that were kind of off. It was apparent that he and I shared the same sense of humour. And, actually, we saw each other at lunch the next day, and after that at his home in Monte Carlo. And at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles where he spent four months out of the year.
Hanna Schygulla filmed by Stephanie Füssenich, Berlin 2019.
Were you already a fan of Newton’s work before meeting him?
Yes. I’d always thought he was an incredible narrator. Many photographers portray scenes, very well defined moments, but there’s always a sense of mystery in his. There is the beginning and the end of something, and you sit there wondering what happened in the missing scenes.
Why did you decide to only interview women in this documentary?
I found a lot of analysis and statements about his work made by men – journalists, gallery owners, curators, collectors – but the female point of view was always missing. And I wanted to know what the women who had worked with Helmut thought of him. Then I saw the image of Charlotte Rampling nude, on a table at the Nord-Pinus in Arles, and I was curious about how that photo came to be. As luck would have it, that was the first nude photo for both Helmut and Charlotte. And that decided it for me.
Charlotte Rampling filmed by Pierre Nativel, Paris 2019.
What did you learn about Newton in making The Bad and the Beautiful?
He talked about his escape from the Nazi regime for the first time, the fear and rage of living in Berlin in those years. There was a really touching moment when he said, “Let’s go to the Bahnhof Zoo, the railway station.” When I asked him why, he said, “Wait.” He took me to the first track, and that’s where he’d left Berlin in 1938, believing he’d never return. One of the last buildings he saw as he left was a casino for Prussian officers, and today that building is home to the Newton Foundation. I had goosebumps. The incredible thing is that Helmut loved returning to Berlin. I always thought that it was really generous of him given what he’d been through. But he loved the atmosphere and the women of Berlin. It’s no surprise he is buried there, not far from Marlene Dietrich.
In the documentary, he also talks about how Leni Riefenstahl’s images really impacted his work.
Newton was thirteen when Hitler came to power. At that age, he was interested in two things: girls and photography. If you are suddenly surrounded by Nazi propaganda, of course that’s going to have an influence on your imagination. And it’s easy to see how: those shadows and statuesque bodies…At the end of his life, he’d become friendly with Leni. They wrote letters to one another. He’d photographed her, and there’s an image, which is not in the film, of them holding hands. One day, he said to me, “You know, Leni, unfortunately, was a bloody genius.” You could tell that, on one hand, he wanted to hate her, and on the other, he admired her work. In a certain sense, he was reappropriating that awful imagery to defuse it and give it a different meaning, his meaning. To take control of those images.
Anna Wintour in a shot by Pierre Nativel, New York 2019.
At one point, June talks about how she asked her husband if he realized how profoundly subversive his work was – if this was on purpose or if he was just playing the part of the naughy boy. What do you think?
In a fax to Anna Wintour, Newton once wrote – quoting Kaiser Wilhelm II – “the more enemies, the more honour” He loved to provoke, he loved to see the reactions of readers. We live in much more prudish times compared to the 1970s and 1980s when, fresh off the sexual revolution, nudity was no longer taboo. These days, many of Helmut’s photos would not be published. His images backed you to the wall, forcing you to look at the unpleasant aspects of society that we want to get rid of. And now those images are part of photography history. We need to really be careful not to censor art. I don’t think there is anything more important than freedom of expression, don’t you agree?
Opening picture: self-portrait of Helmut Newton at Studio Yva, Berlin 1936.
IMAGES FROM THE DOCUMENTARY FILM “HELMUT NEWTON - THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL”, LUPA FILM, BERLIN 2019, COURTESY MK2 FILMS