Helmut Newton (1920-2004)

Helmut Newton died exactly a year ago at the wheel of his Cadillac at the age of 83. A highly talented fashion photographer, Newton is best known for his black and white photographs of tall and slender women and for his celebrity portraits.
Shortly before his death, the artist bequeathed more than a thousand of his most emblematic photos to Berlin, the city where he was born. This collection – a brilliant sample of the depth of his work – has been on display since last June at the new Helmut Newton Foundation Museum

At auctions, over fifty of the artist’s photographs come up for sale every year, with a bought-in ratio of below 25%. Of those sold, 60% go under the hammer for less than USD 6,000. The highest ever price paid for a photograph by Helmut Newton was USD 155,000 at Christie’s on 27 April 2004 for a 1.5 metre work entitled “Panoramic Nude with Gun, Villa d’Este, Como” (1989). Already in 2002, a lot comprising two photographs (“Sie Kimmen, dressed, Paris” / “Naked, Paris”) had fetched USD 160,000. Today, the most sought-after and the most famous works are Newton’s “Big Nudes”. The sharp escalation of prices for Newton’s work drove up his auction turnover from USD 40,000 in 1998 to USD 600,000 in 2002.

Artprice Index (1997 – Dec. 2004)
Base 1997 = 100 USD

Apart from these exceptional prices, collectors can still find quality works of his for less than USD 3,000. For example, a 14.3 x 60.6cm argentic print entitled “He Group, Women”, created by Newton in 1983, went under the hammer at Christie’s Paris for EUR 1,500. And on 15 October 2004, two works entitled “Evie and her Mercedes, Beverly Hills” and “Evi admiring Herself, Beverly Hills” sold for USD 2,000 and USD 3,000 respectively at Christie’s New York. Today, demand for Helmut Newton’s work has never been higher. By way of a reference, 100 dollars invested in a Newton photograph in 1990 would be worth almost 400 dollars today. Between January 2003 and January 2004, the prices of Helmut Newton’s works rose 37.3%.

On 7 February, a “Nude”, produced in 200 copies, will be on offer at Sotheby’s Olympia London for GBP 800-1200. The United Kingdom accounts for 7% of transactions, ranking it in third place for the photographer’s market, behind Germany (29%) and the United States (54%).