After getting the grips with long walks in Berlin, not to mention a attention grabbing history tour I felt it is time to start discovering the art scene in Berlin.
Good way catching up with the latest in Berlin is keeping eyes open, as posters are tagged everywhere.
C/O PHOTOGRAPHY
Educating
Historical
Reportage
The eye-catching architecture of this shabby-looking building is hard to miss in the middle of the busy restaurants and bars. It is definitely one of many outstanding places for cultural visits while visiting Berlin as it is going to be closed down coming year spring! This International Forum is an expanding place for displaying emerging talents and various visual art activities for all age groups. A good range of work and an interesting building it is worth a visit for anyone interested in photography.
Magnum, shifting media. New role of photography Von Robert Capa bis Donovan Wylie
Magnum, photography agency founded in 1947 by photographers such as Robert Capa, George Rodger, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Seymor and William Vandivert. Yet today the agency is well recognised for its outstanding reportage photography, documenting the whole world from everyday family life to shocking catastrophes.
It is the context that media theorist Nobert Bolz speaks of the ‘’great silent image’’, which alone has the capacity to provide some kind of a foothold in the swelling tide of data.
Documentary photographers are constantly aiming to capture a profound photograph: know the subject, involve factual information and keep away from manipulation.
This particular exhibition focuses on contemporary photojournalism, but also includes the period of Robert Capa’s early days documenting Spanish Civil War. The flow on display links the work of the five founding fathers of Magnum - Capa, Cartier- Bresson, Seymor and Vandivert while extending to current creative reportage photography. Emotive images, extreme scenes, breathtaking shots from all over the world, some also published in magazines like Life.
MUSEUM FUR FOTOGRAFIE
Located in the sophisticated western part of Berlin, current home for Museum of Photography first found its purpose as a casino back in the early 20th century. With spectacular architecture, the site holds exhibitions over three levels.
The ground floor is a permanent home for the work of legendary fashion photographer Helmut Newton, including his donated masterpieces of dominatrix-style women in latex as well as a construction of his office.
In contrast, Kaisesaal showcases various photographic exhibitions from the past that have shaped our present view of the world. An excellent collection which is well worth a visit even without keen interest in photography.
Elsa Peretti, New York, 1975
Calender 2001
Some of the strongest images of the decade came from Berlin born Helmut Newton. Powerful, passionate, erotic pictures of sexually confident women challenged ideas of femininity and sexual roles. In Newton's pictures the woman has definitely given a dominant role while accessorised with high heels, corsets, chains always against mirrors and corridors, stairs or balconies that rise to dizzying heights, swimming pools and bridge railings. The photographer liked to take chances, shoot at extreme locations and create a whole new world on his photographs.
Helmut Newton was born to middle-class Jewish parents in Berlin in 1920. He bought his first camera when he was 12, shot his first film in the Berlin Metro. By his mid-teens, he was photographing his girlfriends’ in his mother's clothes, until year 1936 he started working for Else Simon. Then he moved to Australia in 1940, eight years later he married with one of his models June Browne, alias Alice Spring. In 1956, Newton left Melbourne, where he had set up his studio and was also working for the newly launched Australian Vogue. Year 1956 he returned to Europe while working for British Vogue for a year. His breakthrough came after resettling in Paris and shooting for French Vogue in 1961. Furthermore he carried on working closely with Playboy, Elle, and American Vogue. 1976 his first book “White Women” was published. Further years Newton carried on working for various magazines, publishing more creative books and also got awarded many times by his signature look. In year 2004 Newton died in a car accident while having heart attack.
Newton well known seductive erotic pictures reflect what he sees in life with his own eyes. Fashion photographer Helmut Newton would charge his batteries from everyday life. He did what he wanted to do, what only pleased him rather than caring of public’s opinion. By 60’s he had reached his style and set to photographing nudes. Big Nudes, a series of huge portraits women wearing nothing but stilettos, and shot against a white backdrop, was one of the more remarkable projects of that time. Newton’s friend David Bailey even said “He defined the nude”. The sets were simple and unusual, strong and seductive women wearing just high keels. He would use fashion just an excuse in his scenes which also defines he’s well balanced monochrome photographs became far more famous then the garments.
As well as making fashion photographs, Newton had begun to be known as a portraitist. During his long career, he probably photographed almost everyone who was ever famous, from Steve Strange to Jean-Paul Gautier. He worked often for Playboy magazine, where his freedom to make highly erotic photographs was far greater than in the fashion press. Furthermore Helmut Newton's editorial fashion photography was a series of complex, multi-layered visual fictions, imbued with an ambivalent and violent sexuality. He took everyday subjects - a woman walking in the rain, a woman in a kitchen, and charged them with an extreme eroticism.
Helmut Newton for me is definitely one of the most influential fashion photographers of all time. His photographs may come across pornographically which is why he’s work is unique. The stylish scenes combine seductive lesbian sets and prostitution which actually add that extra power and interest to his work. I personally think his biggest trump was being self- confident; doing what you really love and doing it with passion. On a photography side: beautiful women, desirable clothes (either designer garments or just high heels) and a talented photographer make a powerful combination already.
Aside from his pictorial fame he also created Photo Machine which is still highly known and used. The specially made Newton machine is ideal to take fashion images without having a photographer around. The Machine’s original purpose was to capture the subject as they see themselves, which draws parallels to today’s obsession with engineering one’s self-image. Topshop recreated Newton’s machine and using it in London, Dublin and Manchester. The idea is really simple: model control the whole sitting, they will decide when to stop, lighting has been set up and an area where the model must stand has been marked on the floor. The whole system is devised to promote the tension of the session and to catch the model at the peak of each pose.
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