The era of big nudes is over.

Photographer Helmut Newton Dies in Accident

By ANTHONY BREZNICAN, AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES - Helmut Newton was a trailblazer in the photography world, exploring power, gender roles and an icy sexuality in his pictures.

His work appeared in magazines such as Playboy, Elle and Vogue, but he was best known for his stark, black-and-white nude photos of women. Newton, whose subjects included Paloma Picasso, Pierre Cardin and Naomi Campbell, died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after a car crash, police said. He was 83.

Newton apparently lost control of his Cadillac while leaving the famed Chateau Marmont hotel and crashed into a wall, said Officer April Harding, a police spokeswoman.

"He was a giant," said Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. "He was a major talent that pushed the boundaries in terms of photography and influenced many, many other photographers in following generations."

"He will be very much missed," Hefner added. "He will be missed."

It was unclear if Newton became ill while driving, authorities said.

The photographer, who was Jewish, was born in Germany to wealthy parents but fled his homeland at age 18 for Singapore in December 1938, a month after Nazi-led persecution programs began. He eventually settled in Australia and became a citizen, where he opened a small photography studio and changed his last name to Newton from Neustaedter.

Eventually he took up residence in Monte Carlo overlooking the Mediterranean, but spent winters in Los Angeles at the hotel.

In October, he donated more than 1,000 pictures to a new gallery in Berlin saying he was "proud" his work will now be on display in his hometown.

At the time, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called Newton's decision a "sign of reconciliation"

"You can chase a man out of his home but you can't rip his home out of his soul," Schroeder said in a letter read at the press conference announcing the donation.

Newton spent time in Paris as a young man, and made his breakthrough in 1961 shooting for French Vogue magazine.

While Newton also photographed clothed celebrities and nature scenes, he favored photographing strong, muscle-toned women, usually while they wore little more than high heels.

His trademark "Big Nudes" series featured larger-than-life, black and white images of women that portray them as dominating the camera rather than as subjects.

Newton is survived by his wife June, an artist who works under the name Alice Springs. They were married in 1948, and she was a favorite subject of his.

In one 1973 series of photos, she was portrayed as Hitler wearing a cropped mustache with model Jerry Hall posing as Eva Braun. Many of their images of each other turned up in the 1999 book "Us and Them."

The Newtons had no children. He raised that point in October, when he made the donation of some of his photographs to Berlin. While he made clear he was not ready to donate his entire archive, he suggested it would eventually go to the city.

"We don't have any children, so when we kick the bucket of course we'll leave them to Berlin," he said.