To mark what would have been Helmut Newton’s 100th birthday on 31 October 2020, Hamiltons is pleased to announce a forthcoming exhibition of exceedingly rare ‘ferrotyped’ prints from the 1970s. High Gloss will feature many of Newton’s most famous photographs including Elsa Peretti, Rue Aubriot and Woman Examining Man. To accompany the exhibition and celebrate the centenary, Hamiltons is publishing a limited-edition book with illustrations of each photograph, with an essay by Newton’s personal friend and renowned photography specialist Philippe Garner, and a second essay by Vasilios Zatse of The Irving Penn Foundation.
In the 1970s, Newton made a small quantity of ferrotyped prints before he had developed a collector’s market. These glossy prints were made to imitate the press and book styles of the 1930s when the sleek printing technique was associated with the popular, illustrated magazines of Newton’s youth. Photographers of the period such as Erich Salomon and Brassai also provided inspiration. Making these prints was technically demanding, however when the process succeeded, each print achieved the glamourous qualities of a high-gloss magazine page. Philippe Garner says that “Helmut valued ferrotyped prints both for their immediate physical quality that so matched the hard, cool chic of his images and for the significant historical associations they carried for him”.
Newton challenged society’s perception of female desire, portraying powerful women commanding their environment. He viewed the protagonists in his pictures as triumphant and liberated, the nude female body a symbol of a woman’s strength and control. With the encouragement of his wife, June, Newton pursued themes of voyeurism, lesbianism and fetishism in his work, at a time of gender and sexual liberation.
“He visualized women who take the lead rather than follow it; women who love and desire whenever and whomever they like, and whatever way they like; women full of health and vigour, enjoying the resplendence and vitality of their sinewy bodies, bodies over which they themselves have sole command.” - Francoise Marquet, (Helmut Newton: Work, Taschen, 2001)
Helmut Newton, Portrait of Elsa Peretti as a Bunny, New York, 1975 © Helmut Newton Foundation
