June Newton, alias Alice Springs
June Newton, alias Alice Springs
June 1, 2023
Alice Springs, June and model, Paris 1970s
© Helmut Newton Foundation
While the Foundation’s previous Alice Springs exhibitions (in 2010 and 2016) were more comprehensive, this retrospective includes numerous works that have never been shown before. Extensive research into the HNF’s archives – and particularly into the holdings that were recently transferred from the Newtons’ shared apartment in Monaco – has opened up new insights into the late artist’s oeuvre. Many of these (at times spectacular) discoveries are now presented for the first time as vintage or exhibition prints.
June Newton worked under the pseudonym of Alice Springs from the early 1970s onwards, with a special focus on portraiture. Her forays into photography began with a bout of influenza suffered by Helmut Newton while the couple were living in Paris in 1970: the Australian theatre actress –whose prospects of finding acting work in France were limited due to the language barrier – asked her husband to show her how to handle the camera and light meter, so she could photograph an advert for the French cigarette brand ‘Gitanes’ on his behalf. Her portrait of a smoking model jump-started her career – which, over the next several decades, yielded countless iconic images, publications and solo exhibitions.
Alice Springs, June and model, Paris 1970s
© Helmut Newton Foundation
Alice Springs, Isabelle Adjani, Paris 1980
© Helmut Newton Foundation
Alice Springs, Advertisement for Deodorant, Los Angeles 2004
© Helmut Newton Foundation
Alice Springs, Gitanes Cigarette Advertisement, Paris 1970
© Helmut Newton Foundation
Alice Springs, Rupert Everett, Miami 1999
© Helmut Newton Foundation