fashion

As a longtime fan of the fantastic Newton visual universe, I finally got to read this much awaited autobiography while on vacation under the unforgiving tropic sun....much like his favorite light. Unfortunately, the book left me wanting much, much more than mr. Newton chose to share. The first half or so of the Newton tale is rich in detail and held my imagination captive ( I almost forgot all about his life as a photographer). Newton's pre-vogue life was truly fascinating , filled with twists and turns, fate and chance , portrayed with great passion and humor...a juicy read indeed.
However, once he starts to produce work that helps define his genius, the book became very dull and lifeless. mr. Newton rushes through a very short list of moments to highlight the vogue universe that he ruled in the seventies. I was hoping to get much more insight about the great designers (YSL, mugler,valentino, versace , chanel) , models (jerry hall, lisa taylor, vibeke, iman, the entire crew of exotic -YSL-vamps), editors (polly mellon, leon tally) and art directors that participated in 'creating' Helmut Newton. Many key names were glaringly missing (one can only imagine the reasons),after all, he is the man who brought images of glamourized death to the polished pages of vogue. ....and so the mystery continues.

I've been a fan of Helmut Newton since I was about 13 when, Woody Allenish, I miraculously happened upon his pictures of women. Unfortunately this book captures none of the excitement those pictures generate. He tells of growing up in Nazi Germany, his escape to China and his move to Australia. He also shares many (and there are many to share) of his sexual exploits. The problem I had, is if you take the pictures out of the book, it could almost be about anybody with an overactive libido (or imagination). All-in-all it is a gossipy read and amusing at that level but with very little to indicate what makes Newton's photographs some of the most recognizable around. If you're thinking about this book because you know his work, consider one of the books containing his photographs instead.

I enjoyed reading the author's recollections, even though sometimes I wondered if they were wishful thinking (find it hard to believe that a 21 year old woman would be interested in a 14 year old boy - re: the bus story).

The only annoying part was having to constantly switch to the back of the book to read the photo illustrations.