An exhibition dedicated to the automotive photography of Helmut Newton will open at Villa Olmo on Lake Como from May 15 to June 30, forming part of the FuoriConcorso event. Titled Helmut Newton. Cars, the display is organised by the Helmut Newton Foundation in collaboration with Italian luxury brand Larusmiani and will be presented as an open-air installation within the villa’s gardens. It’s the first time that Newton’s focus on cars has been specifically highlighted with a dedicated exhibition.
The exhibition brings together a curated selection of Newton’s work spanning more than four decades, from the mid-1950s to 2001. Across 20 large-format panels, it explores the role of the automobile within his photography, a recurring subject that appeared both as a compositional element and as a central theme in its own right. According to the organisers, this marks the first exhibition devoted specifically to this aspect of Newton’s output, with a more comprehensive presentation planned at the foundation’s Berlin base in the future.
Newton’s association with automotive imagery dates back to the early stages of his career. One of his earliest works featuring a car was produced during a trip to Rome in the mid-1950s, when he photographed his wife June beside his Porsche 356 on the Via Appia Antica. The motif continued in subsequent fashion assignments, including shoots for Australian, French and British editions of Vogue, as well as editorial work for Adam magazine.
Throughout the 1960s and beyond, Newton incorporated cars into a wide variety of photographic scenarios. These ranged from fashion compositions involving a Fiat 1200 or a Jaguar E-type to more experimental imagery, such as shooting from within a Facel Vega or staging narrative sequences involving a Mercedes-Benz 190c at a border crossing.
The exhibition also reflects Newton’s later commercial work, including campaigns for manufacturers such as Volkswagen and Italdesign in the late 1990s. Among the photographs on display is a 1996 image created in Como for Italian Vogue, showing a model standing beside an Alfa Romeo Spider with an open boot containing bundles of banknotes.
The choice of Villa Olmo as the venue reflects Newton’s own connection to the region. He worked in and around Lake Como on several occasions from the 1970s onwards, often using the lake and nearby locations such as Villa d’Este as settings for his photography. The exhibition is curated by Matthias Harder, director of the Helmut Newton Foundation. Helmut Newton. Cars forms part of the wider FuoriConcorso programme for 2026, which this year is themed KraftMeister, focusing on German engineering and design. The exhibition will be open daily from 7am to 11pm, with free public access to the outdoor installation.
You can read our preview for FuoriConcorso here, and find out more about the Helmut Newton Foundation here.
