Purple Magazine
— F/W 2009 issue 12
Helmut Newton’s Dentist
Ten years ago, my girlfriend of the time, the German photographer Katja Rahlwes, gave me the number of her dentist, JACQUES VETTIER. She said he was a “bit tough,” but an excellent doctor. What I didn’t know was that Jacques had been HELMUT NEWTON’S DENTIST, and that he would become a friend.
His office contains a unique mix of antiques, trophies from safaris (one of his passions), pictures of Helmut Newton (including a Newton self-portrait with him), post-surrealist paintings, fashion illustrations, and, of course, medical instruments. Jacques was the one who found the veritable prosthetic devices Newton often featured in his pictures of women. When I told him that I’d started taking pictures and wanted to shoot some in his office, he said, “Sure. But I want you to have naked girls in them. I may have a celebrity clientele, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”
photography by OLIVIER ZAHM
