Art will meet fashion will meet provocation this summer when the Museum of Fine Arts Houston becomes the only U.S. venue to show "Helmut Newton: White Women • Sleepless Nights • Big Nudes," which will display the entire contents of Newton's first three books. The 205 large-scale prints, some of them life-sized at almost 8' by 8', are being produced specially for this exhibition.

"I always wanted to show the man behind the camera, and I believe this exhibition succeeds perfectly," said show organizer Manfred Heiting, an Amsterdam-based collector and friend of the Newtons. That's great news, because the man behind the camera lived an even more intriguing life than the tableaux he shot. A WWII survivor, gigolo, and ultimately a fashion photography trailblazer, he was, according to Vogue editor Anna Wintour, "synonymous with Vogue at its most glamorous and mythic." Glamorous and mythic, indeed: Newton and his wife summered in Monte Carlo and wintered at the Chateau Marmont, for crying out loud.

And now a little slice of that glamour will be yours, Houston, to visit whenever you like. After the show's July 3--September 25, 2011 run, the entire contents of the show will become part of the museum's permanent collection.

See the next page for a few more (NSFW) shots.