Helmut Newton. Polaroids

The exhibition presents iconic instant images by the famous photographer that capture Newton's unmistakable style in a spontaneous medium.

Since the 1960s, the Polaroid process has revolutionised photography. In most cases, Polaroids are unique, used for visual preliminary studies or as works of art in their own right. In almost all areas - advertising, landscape, portrait, fashion and nude - and almost everywhere in the world, this unusual image technique has found enthusiastic users since the 1960s, both in applied and artistic photography.

Helmut Newton also made intensive use of various Polaroid cameras, particularly during the shoots for his fashion commissions. The Polaroid corresponds to a kind of sketch of an idea; at the same time, it serves to check the specific lighting situation and image composition. Two examples here also visualise the different development from the photographic sketch (using a Polaroid) to the final image, which Newton then shot with an SLR camera, on "real" film, as he always said. During the tour of the exhibition, the stories behind the creation of many other iconic images that Newton published in his books and that have become inscribed in our collective visual memory also emerge en passant. In this respect, the current presentation is like looking into the sketchbook of one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century.

A display case also contains a wide variety of Polaroid cameras for smaller image formats from a private collection in Berlin.

Last edited on 24.10.2025