In the exhibition Helmut Newton. Brands, over 200 photographs are on view, including many previously unknown motifs from his collaborations with internationally renowned brands such as Swarovski, YSL, Wolford, Blumarine, Redwall and Lavazza. The photographer never made a compositional or stylistic distinction between his magazine editorial work and direct advertising commissions. 

With some irony, Newton referred to himself as ‘A Gun for Hire’ – this was also the name given to the posthumous 2005 exhibition of his commercial photography at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and subsequently at the Helmut Newton Foundation. The current show builds on this and takes it a step further, in that it combines recordings made in the 1980s and ’90s for wealthy customers, mainly in Monaco. Analogue contact sheets, Polaroids, fashion clients’ look books and a large number of magazine advertising images are also on view in numerous showcases, offering insight into the different uses and distribution channels of Newton’s photography.