| dc.description.abstract | In the 1970s, Helmut Newton（Helmut Neustaedter, 1920-2004） gained fame by his cool, sexy and dominant female images in fashion photography. Meanwhile, Helmut’s works were also criticized by feminists with their connotation of demeaning women. For that reason, feminists referred to Helmut as a misogynist. In fact, the particular female images of Helmut’s works simply presented a kind of “playful subversion” for him. Additionally, he treated women as his collaborators in his photographic career. Us and Them, which was published in 1998, demonstrated his collaboration with his wife, June Newton（June Browne, June Brunell, Alice Springs, 1923-）. It includes the Newton’s self-portraits, the portraits photographed by each other, and their portraits of the same celebrities. With their works’ juxtaposition in this series, we can realize the similarities and differences of the Newton’s works. In the introduction of Us and Them, Helmut indicated: “I can see the truth and simplicity in the portraits of Alice Springs. As for myself, I recognise the manipulation and editorializing in my photographs.” However, the elements of truth and manipulation coexist in Us and Them, which also reveals their immense influences on each other.
My first chapter begins with the Newton’s background of fashion photograph, which articulates the characteristics of their works and great shifts of their careers. Through the similar features of their early works, and the coincidence of the watershed period in their photographic career, their great impact on each other is undeniable. In the second chapter, I focus on their works in Us and Them. Helmut’s self-portraits expose his fear of death. Moreover, the concept of eroticism he emphasized in these works is in accord with George Bataille’s. On the other hand, these self-portraits also demonstrate the process of how June acquired her self-identity as a photographer, and provide the clues about their creative concepts. In the part of the Newton photographed by each other, we can easily recognize Helmut’s change of his viewpoint about June. She is no more a prototype of femme fatale but a collaborator for Helmut, and June also attempted to emphasize her own authority as a creator. The comparison of the Newton’s portraits in the third chapter not only reinforces the differences between Helmut and June’s works, but also presents the overlapping traits in them and proves the Newton’s mutual influences. In addition, the elements of glamour and anti-glamour in these works declare their viewpoints about celebrity portraits, which are collaborative cultural fabrications of the photographed subjects and the photographers. In conclusion, my analysis about Us and Them provides an explanation about the complex meaning of the female images in Helmut’s works, and corrects the misogynous criticism about Helmut. Moreover, my dissertation also clarifies June’s achievement in portrait photography and her immense impact on and contribution to Helmut’s photographic creation, and marks the importance of this extraordinary collaborative creation of the Newton in portrait photography.
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