June Newton’s photographic career began when her husband caught the flu. In the early 1970s, Helmut Newton was supposed to stage an advertising campaign for the French cigarette brand Gitanes, but the star photographer was sick in bed. Because he didn’t want to cancel the job, Newton quickly explained to his wife how to use the camera.
This was the beginning of a second career for the trained actress June Newton. Under the pseudonym Alice Springs, the native Australian created numerous commissioned works for advertisers and magazines, later specializing in portrait photography. Hollywood stars, aristocrats or fellow photographers posed in front of their cameras.
This year June Newton would have been 100 years old. On this occasion, the Berlin Helmut Newton Foundation, of which she was President until her death in 2021, is dedicating an extensive retrospective to her. More than 200 of her works will be shown, many of them for the first time.
The exhibition “Alice Springs. Retrospective” runs until November 19, 2023 in the Berlin Helmut Newton Foundation.