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| (Photographer Helmut Newton seen here with operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti) |
"Obituaries and appreciations of the photographer Helmut Newton after his death on January 23, 2004, are riddled with the monikers Newton collected during an increasingly controversial career. In the New York Times, Newton was described as the '35mm Marquis de Sade'; in The Guardian, an 'enfant terrible'; and in Vogue magazine, for which Newton shot for decades, the King of Kink.' Yet none of those nicknames come quite close to capturing the sly luridness and bold subversion of Newton’s images, which transformed fashion photography while simultaneously raising questions about aesthetics and exploitation. The documentary 'Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful,' released in what would have been Newton’s centennial birthday year, only briefly dares to question the methodologies of the man who recoiled at the words 'good taste.' Instead, 'The Bad and the Beautiful' is less about Newton himself and more about how his work made the women he photographed feel...For as incomplete as 'The Bad and the Beautiful' feels in terms of addressing criticisms leveled at Newton, the inclusion of so many women’s perspectives is its own defensive statement." Read more about the documentary here. Watch the trailer and see more photos of Luciano Pavarotti shot by Helmut Newton after the jump.
