Helmut Newton: Polaroids

The technology of the Polaroid camera revolutionised photography. Anybody who has ever used one of these cameras will never forget the smell of the developing emulsion and the fascination inspired by its instant photographs.

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  – Helmut Newton, Italian Vogue, Monte Carlo, 2003, Polaroid

• – Helmut Newton, Polaroid for the Jimmy Choo advertisement, Monte Carlo 2002

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Helmut Newton also loved taking photographs with a Polaroid. From the 1970s onwards, he used these devices extensively, particularly during his fashion shoots. As he once said in an interview, he was motivated by the impatient desire to immediately know how the scene looked as a picture.

In this sense, a Polaroid is a little like a conceptual sketch, and also helps to check the lighting and image composition. At the same time, Polaroid snapshots possessed significant allure for many artistic photographers, particularly because of their objecthood and the possibility of experimentally reusing the image.

So this exhibition does not just feature the Polaroids of Helmut Newton, but also works by numerous colleagues, such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Mary Ellen Mark, David Hockney, Ulay, Carlo Mollino, Luigi Ghirri, Maurizio Galimberti, Hannah Villiger and Cathleen Naundorf. This group exhibition brings together the various techniques of working with the Polaroid camera in the most diverse formats, with each photographer represented with a group of works.

A special exhibition by the Helmut Newton Foundation at the Museum für Fotografie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.

Runtime: Sat, 01/03/2025 to Tue, 30/09/2025

Takes place here:

• Museum für Fotografie - Helmut Newton Stiftung

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