Helmut Newton‘s Early Books

Opening: Wednesday, 2 December 2026, 8 pm // Newton Foundation, Berlin

On December 2, 2026, the Newton Foundation in Berlin opens a new exhibition devoted to three early, iconic books by Helmut Newton. He planned each book himself, down to the last detail; each volume follows its own concept and scope. Together, the more than 200 photographs form a kind of “best of” his work from the 1970s and early 1980s.

Helmut Newton is one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. Famously, he staged his images to be seductive and provocative, at times pushing past the bounds of prevailing social norms. His strikingly inventive photographs, most of them shot on assignment for the most prestigious magazines of the day, were published regularly from the 1950s onward. In 1975 he also began showing his work in galleries, and a year later came his first book, White Women (also called Femmes Secrètes), which sold very well and won the Kodak Photo Book Award that same year – though it was controversial from the start. Sleepless Nights (also called Nuits Blanches) followed in 1978, and Big Nudes (also called 47 Nudes) three years later. The different titles reflect the books’ various publishers and languages; their contents remained virtually unchanged. As celebrated as they are notorious, these books established Newton’s international reputation beyond his countless magazine publications and are now classics of the photo book genre.