Alice Springs, aka June Newton – a retrospective exhibition in Berlin 

The new exhibition “Alice Springs. Retrospective” has opened at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin in June 2023. In celebration of the 100th birthday of June Newton, aka Alice Springs, over 200 photographs will be displayed throughout the entire exhibition space of the foundation. Read more below for details. (Foto up: Alice Springs – Self portrait with Sirpa Lane, Paris 1970s, copyright Helmut Newton Foundation)

*** #ArtBlogger #Exhibition #English

Duration: 3 June – 19 November 2023 – www.helmutnewton.com 

The idea of this exhibitions has started from… 

… some extensive researches into the foundation’s archives, particularly the holdings recently transferred to Berlin from the Newtons’ apartment in Monaco, which has provided new insight into the work of Alice Springs. Now, some of these spectacular results will be shown for the first time as vintage or exhibition prints.

How the wife June Newton became the photographer Alice Spring… 

June Newton started working in 1970 as a professional photographer under the name Alice Springs, focusing mainly on portraiture. It all started with a case of the flu: when Helmut Newton fell ill in 1970, his wife June came to the rescue. He explained to her how to use his camera and light meter, and she took his place in shooting the advertising image for the French cigarette brand Gitanes in Paris. This portrait of a model smoking launched the new career of the former Australian stage actor, who had little chance of acting in France due to the language barrier. In the wake of that initial success, José Alvarez, then running an ad agency in Paris, arranged commissions for her to shoot ads for pharmaceutical products. Later, as head of the publishing house Editions du Regard, Alvarez published the first book of portraits by Alice Springs in 1983.

Alice Sping’s work includes… 

Alice Springs shot many portraits from the mid-seventies onward. Her images are full of empathy, conveying her characteristic blend of curiosity and understanding for the individuals she encountered over the years. In her portraits of fellow photographers – including Richard Avedon, Brassaï, Ralph Gibson, Sheila Metzner, and Robert Mapplethorpe – and celebrities such as Nicole Kidman, Isabelle Adjani, Vivienne Westwood, Liam Neeson, and Claude Chabrol, Alice Springs succeeded in capturing not only the appearance of her subjects but also their aura. 

Equally fascinating are her portraits of her husband, which she often took during his own photo shoots. Together with Helmut Newton’s pictures of his wife and select self-portraits, they round out this comprehensive review of works. The exhibition comes full circle on various levels: the life and work of Helmut and June Newton were connected in the most diverse ways, and now they meet again in Berlin. 

Photography: (c) Helmut Newton Foundation