Mario Testino Undressed: FO

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If your minds work anything like ours, we should assure you that, according to the accompanying notes, whilst “playfully amorous”, there’s no full blown obscenity. In this exhibit of 50 published and private photographs of men and women often wearing nothing more than their tattoos, Testino blew up his images to completely fill the walls in three halls of Berlin’s graciously proportioned Museum of Photography. The 50 featured photographs center on the naked body, alternately exploring and pushing the traditions and boundaries between sex, gender identity, and fashion . His wish continues to be fulfilled posthumously, now with two unique projects by two of Helmut Newton’s friends and colleagues. Not that there is any danger of that, considering most of the billboard size images leave little to the imagination.

Honoring the influence of Helmut Newton, the images become abstracted body landscapes, the protagonists appearing as mere form, a torso, even a statue. Released next Wednesday to coincide with an exhibition at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, this is an homage of one iconic photographer to another. Coinciding with an exhibition conceived exclusively for the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin, this intimate series explores the notion of undressing in photography as much as it lays Testino's archive bare , probing beyond the photographer's established public image to reveal a deeper understanding of his practice and oeuvre . The viewer is almost compelled to immerse his or herself in the images, turning from “a voyeur into a participant. The works on show are not your normal wall hung portraits either – instead, they are affixed directly to the walls meaning that every inch is covered – like a sort of nudey wallpaper.

Following in the tradition of SIR , many of the images may be seen to redefine masculine paradigms in the same way that Newton created his own brand of female beauty. Testino was there to work, “and it’s really where I began to be what I am, so I sort of owe you a percentage of what I earned,” he told Pigozzi. But, without coming across as perverted (we are) – looking at other people get undressed is another story. With a four decades career as a leader in the fields of fashion, culture and lifestyle, Peruvian-born Mario Testino OBE has many facets that take him beyond the surface of a photographer and artist placing him as a cultural visionary.

MARIO MAKES IT BIG: Mario Testino’s “Undressed” is the Helmut Newton Foundation’s largest-scale show to date.In other images, the models just barely cover their skin, with an overcoat, bathing suit, or underwear. The images are accompanied by an introduction from curator Matthias Harder, a candid conversation piece with Carine Roitfeld, as well as an essay from psychiatrist and psychologist Manfred Spitzer who offers a neuroscientific perspective on our visual perception of bodies and beauty. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. The 50 featured photographs center on the naked body, alternately exploring and pushing the traditions and boundaries between sex, gender identity, and fashion.

As the photographer noted prior to the show’s opening June 2, the enormous size and full bleed from corner to corner means there are no distractions.These complement Newton’s well-known work and include portraits of Jeremy Irons at the Ritz Hotel in London, Michael Gross at a swimming pool in Dortmund, as well as nudes taken at an Italian wine estate and for a ballet by Jan Fabre. Despite the underlying sensuality that Testino conveys in his male-female or same-sex group photos, their amorous play never slips into the obscene or pornography. Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in. Manfred Spitzer is a German psychiatrist, psychologist and neuroscientist, as well as a popular author in the conjunction of all of these fields. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.