I really love to visit the Museum für Fotografie. Not only because -if I had the time- I could spend hours in the nice and cosey bookshop which is one of the many filials of the König Bookstore, but mainly because of the beautiful photos from Helmut Newton it exhibits.
Helmut Newton
Photographer Helmut Newton was born in 1920 as Helmut Neustädter at Innsbrucker Straße 24 in Berlin-Schöneberg. The house does not exist anymore, all is left is a plaque.
Newton started a career as a photographer in 1936. Due to political climate in Germany (he was Jewish) he left Berlin in 1938. Via Singapore, Australia (where he met his wife and photographer Alice Springs-June Newton) and London, he arrived in Paris where he worked as a fashion photographer for Vogue Magazine. Because “sex sells”, he developed his particular, controversial style marked by fashion photos with nude models, which made him world famous. Since 1981 he lived and worked with his wife in Monaco and in Los Angelos.
In 2003 he founded the Helmut Newton foundation, which aims to inherit and to promote his works and those of Alice Springs, and a permanent residence in the Museum für Fotografie in Berlin was arranged. Unfortunately he did not make it to the official opening, as in January 2004 he died after a car crash with his Cadillac on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Helmut Newton is buried next to Marlene Dietrich at the Städtischer Friedhof III in Friedenau.
Museum für Fotografie
The museum is held in a former officers mess, built in 1909, and is situated directly behind the Zoölogischer Garten Station.
The ground floor and first floor of this majestic building house the collection of the Helmut Newton foundation. It permanently shows the Helmut Newton private property, and temporary exhibitions are hold, which always have a certain link to Helmut Newton. With this enormous Helmut Newton overdosis you’d think the museum should actually be called the Helmut Newton museum. But fair enough, the Museum für Fotografie is a cooperation of the Helmut Newton Foundation and the Kunstbibliothek’s Collection of Photography, which is situated in the Kaisersaal on the second floor of the building and holds a research and documentarycenter as well. Unfortunately, the Kaisersaal is not open for visitors at the moment.
Helmut Newton Bar
After the museum the real Nelmut Newton fan visits the Helmut Newton Bar at the Gendarmenmarkt (Charlottenstrasse 57). Here you can see the largest Big Nudes photos in private property.
Museum für Fotografie
www.helmut-newton.com
Jebenstrasse 2 10623 Berlin
U2 U9 S3 S5 S7 S75 Zoölogischer Garten
U1 Kurfürstendamm
Open Tue–Fri 10–18; Sat-Sun 11-18; Thu 10–20;
Entrance fee 10 Euro (online 9 Euro)
