Helmut es imprescindible…

Cuando aún estudiaba, fui de Erasmus a Inglaterra y en la escuela donde estaba nos plantearon un proyecto muy interesante. Había que elegir un diseñador, analizar su trayectoria, su estilo y crear una propuesta de colección totalmente coherente con lo que él había hecho hasta la fecha. Yo elegí Ungaro.

Ya ha sido criticado todo lo criticable y extenderme aquí en este tema ahora sería ya prácticamente anacrónico (sí, así de rápido va esto); además, creo que ya he dejado clara mi postura al respecto alguna que otra vez. El hecho es que hoy leí que Neiman Marcus y Net-a-Porter se han negado a vender su próxima colección y justo después leí las declaraciones del propio Emanuel Ungaro sobre la maltrecha colaboración:  “La colaboración con Lindsay Lohan ha sido un completo desastre… Estoy furioso pero no hay nada que pueda hacer al respecto… …Esto les pasa a muchos diseñadores. Éramos los creadores y los patrones, responsables de la creación y el destino de nuestras casas. Pero cuando dejamos nuestras casas, dejamos nuestras almas.”

Tras digerir la tremenda frustración que destilan estas palabras me he dado cuenta de que se me había olvidado qué me había llevado a elegir a Ungaro para aquel proyecto. Suerte que encontré esta fantástica imagen por ahí y lo recordé todo de pronto.

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When I was still studying I spent some time as an exchange student in England and in the school where I was we were told to do a very interesting project. We had to choose a designer, analize his history, his style and create a ficticious collection that should be totally consistent with what he had done till then. I chose Ungaro.

Everthing that could have been criticized has already been criticized and spending time on this now would be almost anachronistic already (yes, these things go that fast); anyway, I think I’ve already make my stance clear about this sometime. The thing is today I read Neiman Marcus and Net-a-Porter have refused to sell his next collection and right after that I read Emanuel Ungaro’s own comments about the battered collaboration: “Lindsay Lohan’s collaboration was a disaster … I am furious but I can’t do anything about it… …That happens to a lot of designers. We were the creators and patrons, responsible for the creation and destiny of our houses. But when we gave up our houses, we gave up our souls.”

After digesting the terrible frustration this words exude I have just realized that I had totally forgotten why I had chosen Ungaro for that project. I’m so lucky I found this amazing picture somewhere, and then, suddenly remembered everything again.

Helmut Newton, born Helmut Neustädter (31 October 1920, Berlin, Germany – 23 January 2004, West Hollywood, California, USA) was a German-Australian fashion photographer noted for his nude studies of women. He died at the age of 83 on 23 January 2004 in Los Angeles in a car accident.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Newton

June Browne (Mrs. Newton)

“Odio las mujeres sentimentales, las fotos sentimentales. Yo congelo la relación entre hombre y mujer. Casi siempre se trata de deseos, jamás de sentimientos. El hombre siempre es un accesorio y la mayoría de las veces asume una posición servil. La mujer siempre es dominante en mis fotos”.

Helmut Newton, el enfant terrible de la fotografía (sidebar sección “PÁGINAS”)

Fotografías de Helmut Newton

Tout être ayant une attirance pour la photo, la mode ou/et le nu, citera cet artiste incontournable qu’est Helmut Newton. Il est né à Berlin en 1920 et fera ses études auprès d’une grande photographe, Else Simon, qui influencera son style photographique. Helmut quitte l’Allemagne nazie en 1938 pour Singapour, où il y travaillera un petit moment. Emigré en Australie, il sert dans l’armée (1940-1944), puis ouvre un studio à Melbourne où il sera photographe free-lance pour le Vogue australien. En 1957, Newton signe un contrat avec Vogue Grande-Bretagne, avant de s’établir pour vingt ans à Paris. Son style se développe pleinement dans les années 70, dans le cadre de son travail pour l’édition française de Vogue dont il devient l’un des photographes vedettes. En 1971, une crise cardiaque l’amène à devenir très sélectif dans ses commandes. Photographe attitré de la jet-set internationale, sur laquelle il porte un regard critique et humoristique, Newton met en scène dans sa mode comme dans ses “portraits érotiques” une femme sculpturale et dominatrice, associée à des décors luxueux (White Women, 1976, Sleepless Nights, 1978, Big Nudes, 1981). Newton photographie uniquement les gens qu’il aime, admire ou déteste. Ses images provocantes, qui manifestent de son propre aveu ses obsessions personnelles, lui ont valu une reconnaissance internationale.

Helmut Newton retrace une vision personnelle du monde de la mode, de l’argent et du pouvoir, au travers d’images souvent très crues. Ses clichés, parfois d’inspiration sadomasochiste, lui attirent les foudres d’associations féministes. Les opposants féministes dénoncent sa façon provocante de représenter la femme, en mêlant la mode au sexe. Quant aux admirateurs, ils y voient la sensualité féminine, même si l’artiste revendique sa vulgarité et une certaine provocation. Personnelement, je vois Helmut en tant que père spirituel du porno-chic .

Plusieurs œuvres littéraires sont destinés à ce photographe de renom international :

·         Private Property : 1989

·         Sleepless Nights ; 1991

·         White Women ; 1992

·         Welt ohne Männer ; 1993

·         Pola Women : 2000

·         Helmut Newton’s illustrated : 2000

·         Big Nudes : 2004

·         Autobiographie : 2005

·         Playboy’s Helmut Newton : 2005

·         Sumo : 2000 rééditions 2009.

Je me suis intéressée à toute sa bibliographie, mais plus particulièrement au live « Helmut Newton », en coopération avec Karl Lagerfeld qui réalisa la préface de ce livre-photo.  Paru en 2004 aux éditions « Actes Sud », il contient cent quarante quatre pages de bonheur. On pourrait dire qu’il est photographe de mode car les images qu’il produit avec une rare fécondité et une constante virtuosité font les belles pages des plus grands magazines.
Mais Newton est bien davantage. Il est le chroniqueur méticuleux d’une classe sociale qui le fascine depuis toujours, celle des gens riches. Ce goût qu’il a du luxe et de la beauté en fait le témoin ébloui mais lucide d’un monde dont il perce les apparences, d’un monde qu’il met, au sens propre du mot, à nu.

Les clichés du photographe germano-australien illustre synthétiquement quarante ans d’histoire de la mode, inspire et s’inspire des arts, de la politique, de la marchandisation outrancière… à travers des figures mythiques ou controversées de notre temps. Dans l’objectif du photographe : Huppert, Deneuve, Rampling, Gardner, Taylor, Schneider, Moreau, mais aussi les tops modèles et leurs couturiers. Maître très bling-bling, croqueur invétéré d’un capitalisme sexué, Newton évite tout de même le plus souvent la vulgarité. Il expose la femme dans sa puissance charnelle, dans ses courbes tendues qui dominent le monde et ses arêtes tranchantes. Elle est ici le capitaine d’un voilier, les seins galbés dans la laine blanche, là une lady Chatterley qui mène son personnel à la cravache. Figée dans l’abandon physique, elle joue les fantasmes argentiques sur papier glacé. Et Newton ne cède presque rien à la sublimation esthétique. Il tartine son plaqué or à la truelle. Mais c’est ainsi qu’on l’aime : en témoin assumé d’une ère de fric et de pornographie.

No clima Berlim…

Sim, Helmut Newton FOUNDATION!!!!

I’m not quite sure why, but the blond coldness and mechanical beauty of this image really speaks to me right now.  That, and I really like the shoes.

I leaned back and turned my head, not uncommon place for the time.
The  wood paneling was too dark to see through and your face was muddled in smoke and 60 watts.

Im going to call you Todd, your are a Todd to me.
I give all my girlfriends boy names, usually names of people I know.

Your lucky you know that? Most girls don’t get the chance to be a Todd or Frank.
After we have made love you will know what I’m talking about.

Photo By: John Lou Miles

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Helmut Newton, SUMO Hardcover, with bookholder, 26.7 x 37.4 cm (10.5 x 14.7 in.), 464 pages € 100.00 Finally back in print! This 10th Anniversary Edition shares the same DNA as the original record-breaking Limited Edition, which has quintupled in price since its publication in 1999.

Roma fino al 31/1/2010 viale Fiorello La Guardia, Aranciera di Villa Borghese Museo Carlo Bilotti. Le temps emprunte’ (Il tempo preso in prestito) Il continuo travaso d’idee tra arti plastiche e teatrali che caratterizza il lavoro di Jan Fabre prende vita in Il Tempo preso in prestito: una mostra e al tempo stesso un punto di osservazione privilegiato sul laboratorio dell’artista belga, un percorso attraverso i suoi spettacoli visti con gli occhi di celebri fotografi come Carl De Keyzer, e Robert Mapplethorpe, Jorge Molder, Helmut Newton..Partendo da uno dei primi spettacoli, The power of theatrical madness (1984), nella mostra sono esposte una serie di opere che si articolano lungo vent’anni per giungere fino al recenti Requiem for a metamorphosis (2007). In molti casi quindi si tratta di opere autonome, interessanti di per se’, e da cui Fabre ha poi preso spunto per suoi lavori teatrali, secondo un’estetica della bellezza e della metamorfosi che attraversa tutta la sua opera. Una crescente tensione anima il percorso espositivo, dove l’immaginazione caotica dell’artista belga, con le sue pieghe derisorie e scioccanti, appare come il mezzo per innescare nel pubblico quel processo che piu’ di duemila anni fa Aristotele definiva -la catarsi-. Tra disegni, bozzetti per le scene, fotografie, Il tempo preso in prestito e’ tempo sottratto alla messa in scena, una metamorfosi ultima di fine spettacolo, un modo per farne deflagrare l’anima una volta di piu’. Fotografie: Helmut Newton, Carl de Keyser, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jorge Molder, Malou Swinnen, Dirk Braeckman, Marteen Vanden Abeele, Wonge Bergmann, Jean-Pierre Stoop, Pierre Coulibeuf  disegni: Jan Fabre  Organizzazione Aldo Miguel Grompone  realizzazione Musei in Comune e Romaeuropa Festival 2009  con il sostegno di Ambasciata del Belgio in Italia  supporto organizzativo e servizi museali Zetema  con la collaborazione di BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas, Unicredit, Monte dei Paschi di Siena  Romaeuropa Festival  28 ottobre/14 febbraio  http://www.romaeuropa.net (fabre)

]]> http://toscanello.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/helmut-newton-at-work/ Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:29:34 +0000 toscanello http://toscanello.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/helmut-newton-at-work/

Foto di Anonimo

Remember when people debated whether or not photography is a real art form? For a long time, pictorialism reigned, which meant most art photography copied the paintings and etchings of the time. But I think photography has really broken free of its initial shackles (and probably inferiority complex) and now seeks to capture what cannot be done in any other medium. I’m sure some would argue nowadays that fashion photography isn’t really “art”, but maybe it’s because they haven’t seen…

Richard Avedon

Louise Dahl-Wolfe

Irving Penn

Helmut Newton

Mario Testino

Peter Lindbergh

I think every great photograph tells a story. Or rather, the photographer caught the subject in the middle of something, and it is up to the viewer to figure out the rest. A good photograph inspires the viewer’s imagination, but the entire experience is so seamless in that no words are needed and the photographer tricks us into believing our story is he/she intended to portray all along. SO CLEVER!!!

(I know I didn’t include Meisel, Demarchelier, Leibovitz, and so many other greats. Not because they are not great. But I needed to save some of them for another time!)

Mark Ryden has quickly become one of my favorite contemporary artists. Whimsical, ethereal and downright fun, his pieces make him my answer to the ubiquitous magazine interview question “Whom would you most like as a dinner party guest?” Wouldn’t you love to pick this man’s brain?

Who would you most like to dine with? A few others at the table for me: Nancy Cunard, Ginette Spanier, Ed Ruscha, Helmut Newton, Lady Gaga, Pat Conroy, Grace Coddington, Shri Shri Ravi Shankar, Kate & Laura Mulleavy, Simon Doonan, David Crosby, Anderson Cooper, Moby, Isabella Blow, Eddie Vedder, Rayanne Graff, Yves Saint Laurent, Jim Morrison, Gloria Steinem, Lou Reed, Jackson Pollock, Jenny Lewis, David Byrne, Antoine Saint Exupery, Margene, Nicky and Barb (in character and in that order), Natalie Portman, Michelle Williams, Joan Didion, Beck, Paulo Coehlo and Don Draper (Betty could come too). Oh and of course, Gordon Ramsay would be in the kitchen:)

True to CAYSF form, I have included below a few contemporary art coffee table tomes featuring Mark Ryden and others in the genre. Both are available on Amazon.

Makiko Sugawa is a Japanese artist whose incredibly detailed line drawings are one of my current obsessions. For some reason, I can’t find that much information about her on the web (when I typed her name into wiki, I got did you mean: making sugar?). From what I gather, she was born in the seventies and didn’t start drawing until age 27. Many of the women she draws have prosthetic limbs, like the artist herself, or gears for legs. Her provocative work explores common stereotypes, mechanical beauties, and whether something artificial can be sexy.

In nico magazine, Sugawa says, “In private time, we remove not only makeup of the face, but also makeup of the heart. So then, the real desires and instincts of a woman are released… I want to express the precise beauty of eroticism. I want to catch the skin and its essentials, which are not shown usually. We can see the essentials of eroticism by peeping into a defenseless person’s private life.”

Appreciation of beauty is part of Japanese culture. Sugawa’s drawings have the pop quality of the postmodern superflat art of artists like Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara, which works the shallowness of the modern consumer culture. The beauty of Sugawa’s subjects isn’t broken by their mechanical limbs; they are more bionic women, less helpless invalids. These drawings have a carnival sideshow quality to them, with their weird props and awkward positioning. Many of her drawings draw direct inspiration from the photographs of Helmut Newton. The experience is voyeuristic, erotic, and vaguely exploitative. We are peeping in on their private time, as it were. Yet part of me feels like the girls on the page want you to watch; many of them (the ones that aren’t blindfolded, anyway) are staring indifferently, playfully, or even boldly into the audience.

In addition to her book, Woman’s Private Time, Makiko Sugawa has had four solo exhibitions: un*dress, Lace Queen (a play on the Japanese “race queen,” or a race car model), Ladies Time, and New*Feminine. This art is inspiring me, among other things, to find amazing lingerie. Visit the artist’s website here.

all artwork by Makiko Sugawa

Esse clipe de Nujabes, o apelido do dj japonês Jun Seba, produtor de hip-hop que em geral sintetiza sua rimas faladas com o “cool jazz” de Miles Davis ou de Yusef Lateef, é muito inspirador.
Imagens de pessoas de corpos distintos em momentos bizarros, chegando a uma certa demência parece clarear porque as imagens de moda estão tão cansadas. Não tem ali o tédio conformista ou o deslumbre automático que nos acostumamos ao folhear muitas revistas de moda. Queremos ver quem é o próximo personagem, nos afeiçoamos por uns, seja a criança ou o velhinho, pode ser a menina zarôlha ou o gordo com corpo de lutador de sumô. Eles poderiam nos suscitar o riso e até desprezo, mas essas imagens nos colam a retina ao vídeo, meio encantados, meio observadores. Além disso existe uma certa atitude que poderia ser agressiva, mas nos deixa feliz, quase cômica, mas nunca debochada de nossa parte.
Para bem longe de imagens clichês produzidas ad infinitum no mundo da moda, existe uma liberdade ali, naqueles 4′38”, que transforma o grotesco em sublime como as melhores fotos de Diane Arbus ou quando Helmut Newton trilha terrenos surreais. Traz uma certa candura e inocência, como um ato primeiro.
No fim do clipe, com a japonesa vestindo um maiô da Mizuno, bem que poderia ser uma publicidade da marca, mas não é. É apenas a totalização do grotesco em encantamento!

Os mestres: acima Diane Arbus e abaixo Helmut Newton: o sublime grotesco

o nome do post poderia ser tb “i dont see dead people anymore”.

um maluco fotografou o lugar onde pessoas famosas morreram e expôs as fotos. achei interessante esse conceito, pq o lugar nas fotos está vazio, tem o lance do lugar ser triste, decisivo na história, e ao mesmo tempo mostra o lugar como sendo qqr esquina.. é.. da pra viajar bastante nessa idéia…