TALKING POINTS
Delayed EXPOSURE
A new book showcases the photographic talent of June Newton, bringing her out of the shadow of her late husband, Helmut. BY CARLI PHILIPS
170 | HARPER’S BAZAAR | SEPTEMBER 2011
Above: Yves Saint Laurent pictured with Hazel, Paris, 1978, and a fashion shoot for Dépêche Mode, Paris, 1971, both from Alice Springs Photographs.
photographs of a person she is interested in, or perhaps fond of. Often the results are remarkably good. I don’t know of anyone else who takes the same kind of portraits … hers seems to have a unique quality.” While quietly amassing her own inimitable body of work, the enigmatic artist also acted as her husband’s lifelong devoted editor, curator, subject and loyal companion. June is now in her late eighties, and still heads the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin. www.helmutnewton.com.
Alice Springs Photographs by June Newton (Taschen), $75.
COURTESY OF THE HELMUT NEWTON FOUNDATION AND TASCHEN CREDIT
T
hey say that behind every great man stands a great woman. It’s a sentiment that rings true in the case of legendary photographer Helmut Newton and his widow, June. Although never as publicly acclaimed as her husband, Melbourne-born June was an accomplished photographer in her own right, working for more than four decades under the pseudonym Alice Springs (a name selected blindfolded with a pin in her hand and a map of Australia in front of her). Alice Springs Photographs (dedicated to Helmut) is the first retrospective book documenting June’s work across fashion, nudes and portraiture. Her career began by accident in 1970 when she stepped in to shoot a campaign for Gitanes cigarettes in Paris, after Helmut came down with the flu. June Newton was a stage actor and painter with no formal photography training, yet she went on to secure clients such as French hairstylist Jean Louis David and editorial spreads in nearly all the major fashion magazines. Unlike her husband’s risqué sensibility, Newton’s style was more soulful and innocent. “I used all my acting skills to make people relax, dwell within themselves and just look at me,” she told The Guardian newspaper. “I can never photograph anybody without the regard in the eyes.” Alice Springs Photographs is an intimate black-and-white tribute to the (other) Newton behind the lens. Her portraits capture a string of anonymous contemporaries, glittering Hollywood celebrities and some of the 20th century’s most significant cultural personalities such as designer Yves Saint Laurent, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, artist Gerhard Richter and legendary BAZAAR fashion editor Diana Vreeland. “She does not use any tricks because she simply doesn’t know any,” Helmut once said of his wife’s honest technique. “Instead, she takes straightforward
SNAP PRECISION Helmut Newton’s creative process is revealed in a new compilation of his Polaroid test shots. BY CARLI PHILIPS
CREDIT
Such was Helmut Newton’s extraordinary vision that acclaimed fashion editor Carine Roitfeld proclaimed that her aspiration was to be like the subject of one of his pictures. Now the book Polaroids offers privileged access into the creative process of one of the world’s most prolific photographers, while celebrating the thrill of the instant image. This previously unreleased compilation of test shots, complete with white borders and long-forgotten handwriting, is an intimate behind-the-scenes look at the influential snapper’s most celebrated images. The raw prints were a crucial tool for Newton to conceptualise his ideas and test lighting, revealing the moments just before some of his most iconic, stylised works. “You had to research and Polaroid every piece of clothing before taking it on a shoot,” says Harper’s BAZAAR ambassador Claudia Navone, who worked with Newton during the 1990s and styled the book’s cover in Monte Carlo. “It was before computers so, although laborious, it was a very special way of working. He was very particular and knew exactly what he wanted. It was Helmut’s world.” Polaroids by Helmut Newton (Taschen), $70; www.taschen.com.
June Newton’s fashion shoot for Dépêche Mode, Paris, 1971, from Alice Springs Photographs.
Above: fashion shoot for Paris Match, 1995. Right: Newton alongside his work in Monte Carlo, 1995.
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