The Making of Helmut Newton's SUMO
Helmut Newton's SUMO is a titanic book in every respect: Measuring 50 x 70 cm (20 x 27.5 inches) and weighing approx. 30 kg (66 lb.), the book contains 480 pages, breaking any previous record. SUMO is a truly unique publication.
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"The project took three years and ten million Deutschmarks. 50 people worked on the book with Helmut Newton and his wife June. June and Helmut are absolute perfectionists. For them, control and quality take top priority. I love such precision - especially since their decisions were always right. Trial and error, conceptual improvements, innovative developments - these were important factors in achieving the best results. The colours and contrasts had to be exactly right. The paper had to be of just the right quality to make this book what it is when you leaf through it, look at it and read it - a sensation.
It was June Newton who selected the 400 images from her husband's oeuvre. She is very professional. Nobody knows his works so well. June takes the same painstaking care in selecting the photographs as Helmut Newton does in planning them. She managed to find just the right balance of dynamic glamour and sensational scenes. Binding the book was another major challenge. Never before has a book of this size and weight been printed.
SUMO is a vision become paper, full of so much labour and so many memories. An adventure. A project that has resulted not only in a book that makes us proud and happy, but also a new friendship. I used to admire Helmut Newton for his work. Today he is a friend. Helmut Newton's SUMO is destined to be the most successful book of the 21st century. It's my favourite book already."
Benedikt Taschen in Max, Germany (1999)
Selected Quotations from International Media
"SUMO is just brilliant"
Libération, France
"Big, Bigger, SUMO"
Max, Germany
"This is not a coffee table book it is a book with coffee table. And if it sells out, it is also profi-table!"
Benedikt Taschen, in: The Scotsman, England
"A collector's item, not just among photo-fetishists"
The Times, United Kingdom
"The latest book by Helmut Newton is a quite exceptional object"
Le Monde, France
"It is a vision on paper, harbouring a mass of work and memories. An adventure."
Benedikt Taschen, in: Max, Germany
"Beyond its content, SUMO is a monument and a work of art in itself."
Newlook, France
"The biggest, fattest and most expensive book by the greatest and most prolific genius of photography"
Photo, France
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Page 1 2 3
"The project took three years and ten million Deutschmarks. 50 people worked on the book with Helmut Newton and his wife June. June and Helmut are absolute perfectionists. For them, control and quality take top priority. I love such precision - especially since their decisions were always right. Trial and error, conceptual improvements, innovative developments - these were important factors in achieving the best results. The colours and contrasts had to be exactly right. The paper had to be of just the right quality to make this book what it is when you leaf through it, look at it and read it - a sensation.
It was June Newton who selected the 400 images from her husband's oeuvre. She is very professional. Nobody knows his works so well. June takes the same painstaking care in selecting the photographs as Helmut Newton does in planning them. She managed to find just the right balance of dynamic glamour and sensational scenes. Binding the book was another major challenge. Never before has a book of this size and weight been printed.
SUMO is a vision become paper, full of so much labour and so many memories. An adventure. A project that has resulted not only in a book that makes us proud and happy, but also a new friendship. I used to admire Helmut Newton for his work. Today he is a friend. Helmut Newton's SUMO is destined to be the most successful book of the 21st century. It's my favourite book already."
Benedikt Taschen in Max, Germany (1999)
Selected Quotations from International Media
"SUMO is just brilliant"
Libération, France
"Big, Bigger, SUMO"
Max, Germany
"This is not a coffee table book it is a book with coffee table. And if it sells out, it is also profi-table!"
Benedikt Taschen, in: The Scotsman, England
"A collector's item, not just among photo-fetishists"
The Times, United Kingdom
"The latest book by Helmut Newton is a quite exceptional object"
Le Monde, France
"It is a vision on paper, harbouring a mass of work and memories. An adventure."
Benedikt Taschen, in: Max, Germany
"Beyond its content, SUMO is a monument and a work of art in itself."
Newlook, France
"The biggest, fattest and most expensive book by the greatest and most prolific genius of photography"
Photo, France
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June Newton, editor of SUMO, selecting the final pictures for the layout, Monte Carlo, 1998
