Woman and gardener, Lake Como, Italy

Born in Berlin, Germany, Helmut Newton emigrated to Australia in 1940. He married actor June Browne with whom he relocated to Europe in the late 1950s. By the 1970s, Newton had gained a reputation with his high-contrast photographs of erotically-charged Amazonian models. His oeuvre is regarded as one of the most important in photographic history for his representation of women not as passive objects in the economy of images but persuasive subjects. He said in 1987 that much of his most renowned work would never have been made were it not for his wife’s encouragement: ‘When [June] was really sick, I truly didn’t think I would take another picture....She got me back into it...Women are much stronger than men – in every possible way. I truly believe that.’