Vintage Newton

The pop up ONGallery opened this weekend in Putney for a 3 days exhibition about Helmut Newton’s vintage prints (1967 – 2000).

And oh boy! Even if you know the artist was a provocative photograph and you’re gonna see lots of sexy poses and other nudes, you are still positively shocked how well-done it is!

Newton truly knew how to stage his models: the lights, the frame, the pose, the bodies, the settings, all are perfect. He created his own filmic atmosphere, using the background (sometime a simple window or a car) to magnify the model and exploiting the black and white at its best helping the viewer to focus on the essential – a face for the portrait of Charlotte Rampling, 1967 or an ass for Winnie at the Negresco, 1975.

It is flawless and often fun.

Plus, it is so good (and still too rare) to see pictures of self-confident women, assuming fully their body and feminity, it is empowering!

As the pop up is now closed, you may see the works online from the gallery website here.

Rue Aubriot, 1975

Surprise, 1985