Artist: Helmut Newton
Title: Elsa Peretti in Bunny Costume
Year created: 1975
Medium: Silver Gelatin
Height (inches): 16
Width (inches): 22
This piece is unframed.
Includes a certificate of authenticity.
Description of piece:
Perhaps Newton’s most iconic work that followed on from the work he did for Playboy, ‘Elsa Peretti in Bunny Costume’ is a lasting image of the 1970’s. Newton shot this work in New York amongst the towering skyscrapers that characterize the American Dream, equally epitomized by the Playboy lifestyle in the 70’s. In it, Newton features the iconic motifs of his work- casting the intimacy of the night into the reality of the day, the clothing of the private into the sphere of the public and perhaps most masterfully, the voyeuristic gaze. From every window within the skyscrapers, we sense powerful gazes looking down on Peretti.
This is a rare pre-1985 original vintage print produced in small numbers from a series of transparencies that Newton considered his most provocative and important work through 1985. Always unsigned, they were sent out to major publications to stimulate interest in a photographer’s work. Most were destroyed or written over, it is very rare to find them in immaculate condition.
This collection of vintage prints was gifted to Newton’s agent Norman Solomon, in recognition of the work he had carried out in promoting Newton’s “Private Property” series of exhibitions in 1985. This vintage fine art photograph comes with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Norman Solomon. The ownership rights of this vintage print are supported by an original agreement with Newton in 1984 and supplemented by a further agreement with The Helmut Newton Estate in 2012. This photograph has been stored in conservation condition. Rare original silver gelatin fine art print featuring one of Helmut Newton's most popular and iconic images of Elsa Perettii in New York, 1975. Print is signed by Newton on the front and is dated on verso with Certificate of Authenticity. Print is from Newton's "Private Property" exhibitions that opened in Paris, London, and France in the early 80's to worldwide acclaim. Newton selected 45 of what he considered to be his most provocative works to exhibit in a worldwide opening and had Normon Solomon of International Images produce the events in each city. Image is from the private collection of Normon Solomon and documented by an agreement with Newton in 1985 and further with the Helmut Newton Estate in 2012.
Artist bio:
Newton was born on October 31, 1920, in Berlin, Germany. Son of wealthy Jewish factory owner, he attended the American School in Berlin. From an early age, Newton developed a keen obsession with photography, purchasing his very first camera aged 12. Four years later, Newton was to turn his back on mainstream education, taking an apprenticeship with renowned German photographer, Elsle Simon, known as Yva. Her surreal, multiple exposure photographs that took in fashion, theatre and the nude were to inspire Newton throughout his career. On November 9, 1938, due to Hitler’s increasing persecution of the Jews, his family left Germany and fled to South America. Newton, instead, was secured passage to China, where he stopped in Singapore until 1940 before leaving to Australia and finding work as a truck driver in the Australian Army. In 1948, he married actress June Browne, herself a photographer under the name of Alice Springs, a name she chose from a map of Australia. The two would form a lasting artistic duo- Browne art directed many of Newton’s shoots. High-profile contracts with Australian Vogue in the 1950’s; British Vogue in 1957-1958; French Vogue in 1961 provided Newton with the exposure that would allow him to stamp his style on fashion photography over the next 40 years. Known as the ‘King of Kink’, Newton’s erotically charged imagery was provocative as it was masterful in its compositional and narrative direction. Creating highly charged images layered with voyeuristic, sado-masochist undertexts, Newton was drawn to empowered woman presenting a potent image of female sexuality in the 60’s and 70’s. Often working at night and known for his dislike for the studio, Newton championed Brassai’s street photography, borrowing from New Wave cinema and the surreal images of Man Ray and Eugène Atget. Along with Richard Avedon and Irving Penn, his influence on future generations has been seismic- most notably in the work of Terry Richardson and Juergen Teller. Newton’s work gained increasing prominence following his first one-man exhibition in Paris in 1975 which was quickly followed by his first book, White Woman; and then exhibitions in New York, Paris, London, Geneva, Los Angeles and Toyko through the rest of the 70’s. Major retrospectives at the Berlin’s national Neue Galerie (2000), Barbican (2001), International Center of Photography, New York (2001) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2011), have now secured Newton’s reputation as one of the 20th centuries photographic masters. His auction record stands at $950,000. Newton died, aged 83, in 2004 following a major car accident in Los Angeles. The Helmut Newton Foundation survives him.
