BERLIN.- On 4 June 2015 the Helmut Newton Foundation opened its three-part exhibition, Newton. Horvat. Brodziak. The foundation has presented Helmut Newton’s works alongside that of other notable colleagues in the past; with this newest show including Frank Horvat and Szymon Brodziak, two photographers are invited who have made a name for themselves in fashion and portraiture. As with Newton, nudes also figure in their work, highly distinct in style. The exhibition presents a total of 300 photographs in various formats and from different periods of the artists’ careers.

Frank Horvat is without doubt among the most important photographers of the 20th century. The storybook career of this autodidact began after he moved to Paris. From his participation in the legendary exhibition “The Family of Man”, to his many photographs published in renowned magazines, people have always remained at the center of his interest. Starting in the late 1950s, his fashion photography was often featured in Elle, Vogue, and later, Harper’s Bazaar. Horvat always strived to go beyond traditionally staged fashion shots, adding surprising contrasts or combining female models with everyday people in a public setting. With such photographs he strongly shaped the spirit of the times. In recent years he has moved away from the fashion and advertising world to subjects of a more private nature. Many of these are presented in his book and exhibition project “House with Fifteen Keys,” and he considers them to be an important part of his legacy. In this current exhibition, 200 of these images will be shown for the first time in Berlin.

The young Polish photographer Szymon Brodziak is another intense storyteller with the camera. As the first institutional exhibition in Germany of his work, this exhibition presents large-format black & white photographs from his recent monograph “One”. The stages he creates for his photographic orchestrations are both real and unexpected, featuring a predominantly female cast. His nude compositions are a fusion of natural grace and provocative stylization. Be it for furniture, cars, or coffee, his images blend subtle eroticism and feminine elegance. Not only is he a master of technique and setting, he also possesses the corresponding sensitivity required to create such calm and intimate character sketches. Brodziak indulges in the clichés and beauty ideals of fashion and nude photography, while simultaneously calling them into question.

The two monographic presentations will be complemented by the second part of Helmut Newton’s permanent loan collection, which has been housed since the establishment of his foundation at the Museum for Photography.

This show will likewise feature more than 70 original vintage prints of Newton’s iconic fashion photographs, nudes, portraits, and self-portraits, many of which have not previously been shown at this location. Newton’s conceptual approach to portraiture is quite clearly demonstrated by a color series in this collection, in which he peers into the bedrooms of celebrities such as David Hockney, David Bowie, and Charlotte Rampling. The subject is photographed twice: once, sitting on the edge of the bed; and then while opening a nightstand drawer. In this series, Newton directs his gaze at two very intimate areas – the bedroom and its contents – capturing prominent personalities in a way never seen before.