The New York Times described him as a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-and-white photos were a mainstay of Vogue and other publications.

"[1] Newton was born in Berlin, the son of Klara "Claire" (née Marquis) and Max Neustädter, a button factory owner.

Interested in photography from the age of 12, when he purchased his first camera, he worked for the German photographer Yva (Elsie Neuländer Simon) from 1936.

The increasingly oppressive restrictions placed on Jews under the Nuremberg laws, meant that his father lost control of the factory in which he manufactured buttons and buckles.

Newton was interned by British authorities while in Singapore and was sent to Australia on board the Queen Mary, arriving in Sydney on 27 September 1940.

A heart attack in 1970 reduced his output, but his wife's encouragement led to his profile continuing to expand, especially with the 1980 studio-bound stark infinity of the "Big Nudes" series.

[9] Original prints of the photographs from his August 1976 pictorial of DeBell, "200 Motels, or How I Spent My Summer Vacation", were sold at auctions of Playboy archives by Bonhams in 2002 for $21,075,[10] and by Christie's in December 2003 for $26,290.

[12] From the 1970s, Newton regularly used Polaroid instant cameras and film to get an immediate visualisation of composition and lighting, especially for his fashion photography.

By his own admission, for the shoot of the "Naked and Dressed" series that started in 1981 for the Italian and French Vogue, he used Polaroid film “by the crate”.

[13] In later life, Newton lived in both Monte Carlo and Los Angeles, California, where he spent winters at the Chateau Marmont, which he had done every year since 1957.