Sex ed never looked like this. But viewing Helmut Newton’s body of work is certainly an education. The influential fashion photographer was a reference in several shows from American designers this past spring season, including Jason Wu and BCBG, but that may turn into a deluge.
Starting Saturday, Newton’s images in his first three books, “White Women,” “Sleepless Nights” and “Big Nudes,” will be on display at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, where Newton had a winter residence and died in 2004 at age 83. Though better known for his later work in Vogue shooting the likes of Cindy Crawford and Nadja Auermann in leg braces, Newton set the erotic stage in the ’70s with these now iconic depictions of women. Sex sells, as we now know, but Newton was a photographer who helped redefine that idea of women in fashion magazines.
“If Newton’s work was controversial,” says Wallis Annenberg, CEO of the Annenberg Foundation, “I believe it’s because he expressed the contradictions in all of us: empowerment mixed with vulnerability, sensuality tempered by depravity.”
Besides the 100 prints on display, some running 8-by-8 feet, the exhibition will include two films, one a documentary shot by his wife, June Newton, offering a glimpse at his private life, and another examining his impact on fashion, women and
photography. sfrench@nypost.com