HELMUT NEWTON (1920-2004)

‘Inspired by the German police’s life-size identity photographs of political terrorists, I began in 1980 two of my most successful series of nudes. Because of the liberal attitudes of both French and Italian Vogue, they agreed to feature these photographs prominently, giving them a great number of editorial pages. The Big Nudes were some of my rare photographs taken in the studio. The Naked and Dressed presented probably the biggest technical problems…there was a considerable time lag between the two versions. I had to match the exact movement of the model to each version with the help of many Polaroids.’ Helmut Newton

L'idée de l'ambitieuse série 'Naked and Dressed' de Newton, débutée en 1980 et dont ce diptyque est surement la pièce majeure, a germé cinq ans plus tôt. En 1975, lors du shooting pour Réalités à la Villa d’Este, Newton réalisa deux séries d'images, l’une pour le magazine, l’autre pour son propre portfolio - "deux versions de la commande; une nue et une habillée". C’était le point de départ de ‘Naked and Dressed’.

The seed of Newton’s ambitious series ‘Naked and Dressed’, initiated in 1980 and within which the present diptych is surely the tour-de-force, was sown five years earlier. In 1975, on a shoot for Réalités at the Villa d’Este, Newton made parallel sets of images, one for the magazine, the other for his own portfolio – "two versions of the assignment; a nude one and a dressed one". This was the start-point for ‘Naked and Dressed’.