Helmut Newton. Legacy Hardcover – 27 Oct. 2021

Ok I’ll start by saying I’m maybe being harsh with 4 stars. The book is probably more 4.5 stars.First of all, if you’re only going to get one book on Newton you’re probably going to get Taschen’s SUMO. Because it’s iconic and it probably goes contain more of Newton’s more famous/greatest hits.If you’re going to get two books, or thinking of getting this instead of SUMO I don’t think it’s a bad choice at all. For starters, there’s not very much overlap with the SUMO pictures - perhaps surprising but maybe not considering how prolific Newton was and how long he worked for.Printing quality appears good although there is a bit of a chemical smell. Annoyingly the dust jacket is quite brittle non-glossy paper so is sort of chipped (the black has revealed the white paper underneath) after I placed it on a book stand.The text isn’t great - Harder’s text doesn’t read well and sounds like a poor translation (not engaging at all) and for the introductory sections of each chapter it appears some text is missing in English (minor but still questionable). This doesn’t matter hugely for a photo book but the book doesn’t give you much context.The selection of photos are presented in order by decade. It’s lots of good lesser known stuff although inevitably in a selection this large some feels better than others. Frustratingly they don’t include the most famous picture of Elsa Peretti in NYC (other alternative shots are included). And Cindy Crawford is quoted but doesn’t really make an appearance.I actually prefer the selection of photos in LEGACY to SUMO. SUMO is very brash, in your face, lots of nudity, more vulgar-chic. LEGACY to me feels more fashion, of course there is nudity but it’s more narrative and film-noir. Perhaps some of the more photos in SUMO are stronger standalone and it can be a bit overwhelming as a whole book, whereas LEGACY sort of works as a whole, telling more of a narrative story (especially with the roughly chronological order and various film strips included showing more photo variation and sequence).Most people would opt for SUMO as their one Helmut Newton book. If you’re into more of his fashion photography I’d encourage you to actually get LEGACY instead. If you want two books on Newton I think they complement each other well.