Helmut Newton - Playboy Helmut Newton - 2005

Playboy, Helmut Newton, éditions EPA, 2005.


This book presents, through the history of the magazine Playboy, a retrospective of Helmut Newton, one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, renowned for his carefully composed shots with a cinematic atmosphere, featuring charismatic women staging various erotic fantasies. This style was Newton's signature, which he contrasted in a spectacular counterpoint to other nude photographs in Playboy that we know. Through 160 stunning photographs, many 'Newtonian' apprehensions are showcased: staged Playmates, Nastassia Kinski and her doll double, a 'lolitesque' travel journal, doll images—disturbing and almost alive—shot in 2002, etc. Newton created a realm of dream and voluptuousness, inspired by the Prussian imagery of his youth, reminiscent of both the Vénus au vison and childish voyeurism. For nearly 30 years, Newton took the photos for the famous Playboy calendars.