Newton, the women’s champion

Controversy was always a key ingredient in Helmut Newton's success. In the 1970s, his fondness for photographing sexy, gender-bending women (often involving eroticised or compromising nudity) not only became his trademark but also led to accusations of misogyny for supposedly degrading his subjects. Having spawned a generation of imitators since then, however, Newton is now regarded more as a champion of female empowerment - as the man who introduced seductive, predatory, Amazonian models who tote guns and cross-dress with a devil-may-care attitude to the pages of fashion magazines. As Newton himself insisted, the women in his pictures - whether naked, threatened (see Catherine Deneuve, Paris, 1983 above) or in flagrante - were never depicted as victims.

Holly Kyte