From Publishers Weekly
Famous for his decadent photography, Newton shares his life and times in a tell-all that reveals as much about his narcissism as his artistry. A German Jew whose family was ruined by the Nazis, Newton, born in 1920, has lived an exciting and terrifying life. The product of a privileged Berlin childhood, he bought his first camera at 12 and was hooked. Apprenticed to Yva, a noted fashion photographer, Helmut learned his craft, all the while dreaming of becoming a photographer for Vogue. But once the Nuremberg Laws were passed, coupled with the horrors of Kristallnacht, his family fled. Young Helmut went to Singapore; his parents sailed to South America. This rupture forced him into an independent, nomadic existence that continued throughout his life. A handsome, dashing figure, he is honest about his tenure as a gigolo, his time in an Australian prison camp (holding an expired German passport meant he was considered an enemy alien), his years in the Australian army and his ongoing passion for photography. Proposing to his wife, June, he warned her: "My work will always come first." His big break came in 1961, when he joined French Vogue. Newton was renowned for his erotic, risqu‚ shots of models and nudes recalling the racy cabarets of his youth. In 1976, he published White Women, a controversial book that established him as the agent provocateur of fashion photography. So distinct were Newton's images, they became a Vogue hallmark. His autobiography recounts everything from his numerous affairs to his artistic inspirations. It is a remarkably candid and revealing look at the man behind the camera.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
A woman kneels on a bed wearing a saddle. An elegant nude leans on a cane, her neck in a surgical collar, one leg in a thigh-high cast. These are the sort of disturbing yet sexy images that made photographer Helmut Newton famous. The sultan of glossy erotica now tells his genuinely amazing and entertaining life story, decoding, along the way, the iconography of his stylishly risque oeuvre. The spoiled son of wealthy Berlin Jews, he was equally passionate about girls and photography, and lucky to escape Nazi Germany at age 18. He found refuge in Singapore, where he lived well as a gigolo, then was shipped to Australia, where he was drafted by the army and got married. Given his unabashed chronicling of carefree sexual exploits, his happy marriage and his wife's essential role in his work come as a pleasant surprise. Blunt about his sexuality, self-centeredness, and driving ambition, and generous in his chronicling of his radical approach to fashion photography, Newton is a beguiling and provocative autobiographer clearly grateful for his fabulous good fortune. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review

"Early on - even during war, adversity, family separation, and new lands - Helmut Newton showed an exuberance for life, and an artist's dedication to recording it through photography that ultimately brought him international fame.  Even now, at eighty, that exuberance has never dimmed as he tells in his highly entertaining biography entitled, simply, Autobiography."
— Dominick Dunne

“Helmut Newton's sharp eye and love of life have made his photographs incomparable, and now I understand how his own strange and unexpected history made him a master of his art. This outrageous and joyous book is also, incidentally, a breezy history of the 20th Century.”
— Paul Theroux




Review

"Early on - even during war, adversity, family separation, and new lands - Helmut Newton showed an exuberance for life, and an artist's dedication to recording it through photography that ultimately brought him international fame.  Even now, at eighty, that exuberance has never dimmed as he tells in his highly entertaining biography entitled, simply, Autobiography."
? Dominick Dunne

?Helmut Newton's sharp eye and love of life have made his photographs incomparable, and now I understand how his own strange and unexpected history made him a master of his art. This outrageous and joyous book is also, incidentally, a breezy history of the 20th Century.?
? Paul Theroux




From the Back Cover

"Early on - even during war, adversity, family separation, and new lands - Helmut Newton showed an exuberance for life, and an artist's dedication to recording it through photography that ultimately brought him international fame.  Even now, at eighty, that exuberance has never dimmed as he tells in his highly entertaining biography entitled, simply, Autobiography."
— Dominick Dunne

“Helmut Newton's sharp eye and love of life have made his photographs incomparable, and now I understand how his own strange and unexpected history made him a master of his art. This outrageous and joyous book is also, incidentally, a breezy history of the 20th Century.”
— Paul Theroux




About the Author

HELMUT NEWTON is one of the most admired photographers of the last century. His most recent photography books include the retrospective Helmut Newton Work and the monumental Sumo, both edited by his wife, June. The Newtons live in Monte Carlo.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Born in Berlin in 1920 to a wealthy Jewish family Helmut Newton was an overprotected child with no interest in school. At the age of twelve he purchased his first camera, beginning a fascination with photography that would eventually propel him to the heights of international celebrity. Barely eighteen when Kristallnacht tore Germany apart, Newton managed to escape the Nazis. However, he never made it as far as his intended destination of China. After indulging in a series of shipboard romances, Newton arrived in Singapore and soon became a gigolo and lover of an older woman.

But the world was at war, and talk of interning German Jews became prevalent even on the secrets of Singapore. So Newton decamped once more, ending up in Australia, where he joined the Australian army and served as a private for five years. Subsequently, he opened his first "tiny" photography studio in Melbourne and in 1948 he married his wife, June, a successful actress.

In the 1950s Newton moved to Paris, where he continued to astonish clients with his beautiful and provocatively erotic images of women. His controversial White Women, published in 1976, earned him the titles of King of Kink and Prince of Porn. His distinctive visual vocabulary has been widely imitated.

FROM THE CRITICS

The Washington Post

Helmut Newton's Autobiography has little resemblance to his previous books -- White Women, Sleepless Nights, Big Nudes, to name a few collections of the photographs that earned him such titles as "King of Kink" and "Prince of Porn." It is mostly text, written with very little literary flourish and often crude, but disarmingly so. For Newton's life is full of entertaining interludes that sometimes read like those curious graphic novels in which Edward Gorey portrays decadence with tongue-in-cheek humor. — Kunio Francis Tanabe

Publishers Weekly

Famous for his decadent photography, Newton shares his life and times in a tell-all that reveals as much about his narcissism as his artistry. A German Jew whose family was ruined by the Nazis, Newton, born in 1920, has lived an exciting and terrifying life. The product of a privileged Berlin childhood, he bought his first camera at 12 and was hooked. Apprenticed to Yva, a noted fashion photographer, Helmut learned his craft, all the while dreaming of becoming a photographer for Vogue. But once the Nuremberg Laws were passed, coupled with the horrors of Kristallnacht, his family fled. Young Helmut went to Singapore; his parents sailed to South America. This rupture forced him into an independent, nomadic existence that continued throughout his life. A handsome, dashing figure, he is honest about his tenure as a gigolo, his time in an Australian prison camp (holding an expired German passport meant he was considered an enemy alien), his years in the Australian army and his ongoing passion for photography. Proposing to his wife, June, he warned her: "My work will always come first." His big break came in 1961, when he joined French Vogue. Newton was renowned for his erotic, risqu shots of models and nudes recalling the racy cabarets of his youth. In 1976, he published White Women, a controversial book that established him as the agent provocateur of fashion photography. So distinct were Newton's images, they became a Vogue hallmark. His autobiography recounts everything from his numerous affairs to his artistic inspirations. It is a remarkably candid and revealing look at the man behind the camera. (On sale Sept. 16) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Newton's name is synonymous with trouble in the world of photography. The 1976 publication of his White Women ensured his status as a creator of visually stunning and erotic images of women. His photographs and personality together have cemented his image as a man who has pushed the envelope of his chosen medium for the last 50 years. So, with the publication of his autobiography, readers will be curious to discover the narrative of his own life. How much of his personality will he reveal? This book delivers on many levels. Newton, who was born in Berlin in 1920 and got his first camera at age 12, tells his fascinating and entertaining life story with remarkable candor. Unlike so many celebrities who present sanitized views of themselves, Newton lets us see what makes his brain tick and, therefore, what motivates his photography. One will be hard-pressed to look at his photographs the same after reading this book. A strong companion piece to his photography, best seen in the retrospective Helmut Newton Work, this is highly recommended for public and academic libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/03.]-Sheila Devaney, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Athens Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews