Helmut Newton, born Helmut Neustädter was a German-Australian photographer. He was a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-and-white photos were a mainstay of Vogue and other publications."
Guided by a passion for the strength and allure of the female form, Mr. 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.
As a teenager, he was apprenticed to the German theatrical photographer Yva, who was also fond of the naked female form. At 18, however, he was forced to flee the Nazis, eventually arriving in Singapore, where, he wrote, he became a gigolo. Newton later moved to Australia and served in the Australian Army for five years before opening his first photography studio in Melbourne. In 1948 he married June Browne, a photographer who uses the name Alice Springs professionally. She is his only survivor. After working as a freelancer for Elle and other magazines in the 1940's, he moved to France in the late 50's. There he began to be noticed for his risqué images, eventually earning the nickname "the King of Kink." It was a reputation cemented by his first collection of photos, "White Women," published in 1976.
Newton died tragically in 2004 at the age of 83 when he crashed his car into the wall of the famous Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles.
http://www.helmutnewton.com/
