“Legacy”, Helmut Newton

Ara Pacis Museum, Rome

Helmut Newton (1920–2004) was one of the most prestigious photographers of all time. The large retrospective “Helmut Newton. Legacy” at the Ara Pacis Museum celebrates the timeless influence on modern photography and the stylistic and professional evolution of Newton, legendary image creator and authentic visionary. From the Polaroid shots, there are over 250 photos present together with documents, magazines and videos that illustrate the career of one of the most famous and discussed characters in history.

The exhibition itinerary is divided into chronological sections, which recount the incomparable eras of Helmut Newton’s life and career, from his beginnings to his last years. Each chapter highlights collaborations with designers such as Karl Lagerfeldand Yves Saint Laurent in the 1960s, the revolutionary “Naked and Dressed” series of 1981 and jobs in the 1990s, including those with major fashion houses such as Chaneland Thierry Mugler.

Chronologically the corpus of shots begins from the 1940s in Australia, then the 1950s in Europe, the Sixties in France, the Seventies in the United States and the Eighties between Monte Carlo and Los Angeles, completing the long journey with the numerous reports around for the world of the nineties until the last period of his career.

The Vogue and Elle covers

Through publication in magazines such as Vogue and Elle, for which he edited the covers for decades, the photography of the visionary Newton, encompassing more than fifty years of shots, has reached millions of people around the world. He published his photographs of himself in the 1990s in the German, American, Italian, French and Russian editions of Vogue. Alongside the most representative shots of Newton’s work (some unpublished for Italy), it is possible to admire never-published images, such as the most irreverent fashion shoots.

With an erotic and elegant accent, always provocative and transgressive, he often portrayed the eccentric lives of the beautiful and rich in extravagant scenarios. His work has transcended genres, bringing class, style and voyeurism to portrait and glamor photography through a body of work that remains utterly unparalleled; “I am a professional voyeur.” he said of himself “My job as a portrait photographer is to seduce, amuse and entertain.”

Women and fashion

At the center of the scene, the women, with their provocative bodies full of eroticism, muscular, but never vulgar or in any way “disturbing”, dominate in the infinite famous black and white shots. And then famous stars and protagonists with subjects such as Liz Taylorand Charlotte Rampling, Paloma Picasso (1983), Catherine Deneuve (1976) ,Anita Ekberg (1988),Claudia Schiffer (1992). Going beyond conventional approaches, Newton’s fashion and nude photography is imbued not only of luxurious elegance and subtle seduction, but also of cultural references and a surprising sense of humor.

The photographic campaigns

Having mastered the art of fashion photography early in his career, Newton’s shots were blurring the lines between reality and illusion. Of the important fashion photographic campaigns, some services created for Mario Valentinoandfor Thierry Mugler in 1998 are on display, as well as a series of important photographs, now iconic, for the most important international fashion magazines. Newton had the gift of relating nudity and fashion with extreme chastity, revealing an investigation into the changes in the role of women in the Western community.

The exhibition, curated by Matthias Harder, director of the Helmut Newton Foundation, and by Denis Curti, artistic director of Le Stanze della Fotografia in Venice, is promoted by Roma Capitale, Department of Culture, Capitoline Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and Marsilio Arte, organized by Zètema Progetto Cultura and Marsilio Arte, in collaboration with the Helmut Newton Foundation of Berlin.

Times:
9.30-19.30; 24 and 31 December 9.30am-2.00pm. Last entry one hour before closing. Closed on December 25th.

Tickets:
full €13.00; reduced €11.00;
school special €4.00 per student “Exhibition only” Helmut Newton. Legacy (free entry for one accompanying teacher for every 10 students);
special Family €22.00 “Exhibition only” Helmut Newton. Legacy (two adults plus children under 18);
“cumulative” Ara Pacis Museum + Helmut Newton Exhibition. Legacy full €18.00; reduced €14.00 for residents of Rome (show a valid document) who do not have the “MIC Card”;
“cumulative” Ara Pacis Museum + Helmut Newton Exhibition. Legacy for non-residents in Rome: full €19.00; reduced €15.00.

Reduced entry fee for:
– citizens aged between 6 and 25 and over 65; active teachers upon presentation of a suitable document proving the professional activity carried out;
– journalists upon presentation of a suitable document proving the professional activity carried out; holders of a valid Mic Card;
– Roma Pass 48/72 h holders; Rinascente Card holders and Rinascente employees; holders of the Rinascente International Visitors Card;
– EFFE Feltrinelli card holders and employees of the Feltrinelli Group;
– those enrolled in the X-GO program with an Intercity/Intercity night/Regional ticket to Rome with a travel date no more than 3 days before the date of the visit;
– Freccia Card holders with a Freccia ticket to Rome with a travel date no later than 3 days before the date of the visit;
– companion of Freccia Card holders with a Freccia ticket to Rome with a travel date no more than 3 days before the date of the visit;
– travelers single regional journey towards Rome with travel date no more than 3 days before the date of the visit;
– Trenitalia season ticket holders at the Lazio and Supraregional fare (Abruzzo – Tuscany – Campania) towards Rome with the travel date coinciding with the date of visit.

Free entry for:
– everyone in the age group under 6 years; person with disabilities and their companion; tourist guides from the European Union by showing a valid license issued by the competent authority; tourist interpreters from the European Union when their work is needed alongside the guide, by showing a valid license issued by the competent authority;
– members of ICOM (International Council of Museums), ICOMOS members (International Council on Monument and Sites) and members of foreign and national cultural institutes such as Accademia dei Lincei, Istituto di Studi Romani, Amici dei Musei di Roma, ICCROM.