'My job as a portrait photographer is to seduce, amuse and entertain.' —Helmut Newton One of Helmut Newton’s (1920-2004) most iconic images, Charlotte Rampling at the Hotel Nord-Pinus, taken in the evening of 19 October 1973 in the famous Arles hotel’s grandest room, was shown in his first solo exhibition in 1975 at Nikon Gallery in Paris and has been widely published, including his first anthology White Women (1976). This powerful portrait epitomises Newton’s distinctive interweaving of portraiture, social documentary and the erotic, always with a provocative tone that ensures his lasting hold on our imaginations.
In 1973, English model and actress Rampling was asked to pose nude for Playboy. She recalls her first meeting with Newton and the beginning of their creative collaboration:
I'd said, ‘I don't want to do nudes,’ but the producers said, ‘We're sending this very good photographer; you can have control of the pictures.’ So we did it. ‘Playboy’ was just a nice picture of me, naked from the back and sitting on a chair. Then Helmut said, ‘Can we now do a nude – our nude?’ Could I come to this fantastic room, where the matadors dressed. ‘Could I take an hour of your life?’ So I threw all my whats to the wind.
Rampling came to feature prominently in Newton’s œuvre as an icon of sophistication and empowered sexuality. These images helped define her career – a variant from the Nord-Pinus shoot graced the December 1974 issue of Vogue US, pronouncing her ‘The Sexiest Woman in the World’. Newton often chose old-world glamour locations, including elegant hotels and chateaux, which add to the sensuality of his images, as seen in this work. Presented in timeless monochrome against the lavish interior of the Hotel Nord-Pinus, the implied narrative is achieved through his acute awareness of context. Rampling, naked except for a pair of heels, exudes confidence and power as she stares back at her voyeur.
Trailer for Gero von Boehm’s 2020 film Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful.
