Newton , Helmut , Springs , Alice - us and them New in plastic!

us and them 

This arresting collection of photography features work by both Helmut Newton and his wife, the actress Alice Springs. Newton's coolly elegant and sexy (pornographic?) studies are splendidly counterpointed by Springs' warmer and more vulnerable pieces. The book is divided into self-portraits and portraits by and of each other before a final joint section featuring the same subjects as seen by the two photographers.

The cast is a glitzy mix of riviera-style celebrities. Catherine Denueve looks sultry with a cigarette and Lady Bubbles Rothermere looks a bit ruffled sitting on the edge of a bed. Karl Lagerfeld is here before he went grey--although he still has the pony tail--and Gianni Versace is, of course, naked on a leopard-skin sofa. The self portraits are revealing and occasionally disturbing. Springs is usually in various states of undress in front of mirrors while Newton, oddly, is sometimes naked and wired up to what looks like medical equipment. He might be having treatment for a heart complaint but as there's no text there's no real way of telling. But that's fine. This is a book of images not words and nearly all these fine photographs are worth at least a thousand of them. --Nick Wroe

Helmut Newton met his wife, June, in Melbourne, Australia, in 1947 - when he was becoming a fashion photographer and she was an actress. In 1970 June (who changed her artist's name to Alice Springs) started taking pictures as well. She focused on portraiture, while he continued to shock the photography and fashion establishment by blending haute couture with eroticism. "Us and Them" shows the revealing pictures they took of each other, as well as self-portraits and celebrities the two of them photographed. The book gives us a glance into a very intimate, warm relationship between two photographers, and between husband and wife. Whether in Paris at their apartment at Rue Aubriot, or in the hotel Chateau Marmont, Hollywood, the most intimate portraits come to life. All these images are testimony of a vibrant, loving, private and professional relationship of 50 years. After the book "Pages from the Glossies" which offers an in-depth view of Newton's work as a fashion photographer, this volume shows mostly unpublished images of the deeply emotional and intense relationship between two well-known artists.

Publisher: Scalo 
Language: English
Hardcover
ISBN-10
ISBN-13: 9783908247104
Item weight: 1260g
Dimensions: 27x23 cm