Pola Woman

Helmut Newton’s 1992 decision to show his photographer’s hand and to publish a selection of his polaroid studies was a stroke of genius that is as fascinating today as it was back then.

Newton’s collection of portraits from the worlds of film, fashion, politics and culture can be considered a pantheon of VIP’s. But his work is a lot more besides. From his portraits, one can see that he would have most liked to be a Roman paparazzo – as he once admitted. Anyone who had a portrait made by him knew what the result would be, and by the 1980’s there were absolutely no ‘beautiful people’ in this world who did not want to be photographed by him! In front of his camera, both men and women peeled off their covers – literally as well as figuratively. His brilliant staged creations celebrate the attractiveness and prominence of his models as well as their vanity and imperfections. Newton’s top-quality work for major fashion journals and elitist art magazines is likewise first-class erotic art. This collection was first published by in 1985.