A MESSAGE FOR YOU

GUY BOURDIN
 FAN-MADE BOOK CREATED BY IVAN SAKHAROV
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 Who Is He?
Guy Bourdin (2 December 1928, Paris – 29 March 1991, Paris),
born Guy Louis Banarès, was a French fashion photographer
known for his provocative fashion images. He was one of the
best known photographers of fashion and advertising of the
second half of the 20th century. He set the stage for a new kind
of fashion photography. Bourdin worked for Vogue and Harper's
Bazaar, and shot ad campaigns for Chanel, Issey Miyake,
Emanuel Ungaro, Gianni Versace, Loewe, Pentax and
Bloomingdale's. His first retrospective exhibition was held at the
Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 2003, and then toured
the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, and the
Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris

"While conventional fashion images make beauty and clothing

their central elements, Bourdin’s photographs offer a radical
alternative."
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 Life and Career
Guy Bourdin was born 2 December 1928 in Paris, France to a
Spanish father and a Belgian mother. His parents separated
when he was an infant and he was sent to live with his paternal
grandparents who owned a house in Normandy. His
grandparents were also owners of a restaurant in Paris called
Brasserie Bourdin. When his father, who was only 18 at the
time of his birth, remarried, Bourdin was again under his care.
Apparently Bourdin only saw his mother once when she arrived
at the Brasserie to present him with a gift. Thereafter, his only
communication with his mother took place in the side-by-side
phone booths of the Brasserie where his participation would be
ensured by a locked door. Bourdin was later to recall his
impression of his mother as an elegant, red haired Parisienne
with pale skin and relatively heavy make-up. At the age of
eighteen Bourdin embarked on a cycling tour in Provence
during which he met art-dealer Lucien Henry. Bourdin passed
six months living at Henrys house where he concentrated on
painting and drawing until it was time for his mandatory military
service.

Bourdin was first introduced to photography during his service

in the Air Force. Stationed in Dakar (1948–49), Bourdin
received his initial photographic training, working as an aerial
photographer. When he returned to Paris after his service, he
supported himself with a number of menial jobs, including as a
salesman of camera lenses and he also continued to paint,
draw and take pictures. During this time he exhibited some of
his drawings and also sought out the mentorship of American
Ex-patriot and prodigious Surrealist Man Ray. According to the
story Bourdin was turned away from Man Ray's door six times
by his wife and on the seventh finally succeeding in gaining the
artist's company when Man Ray himself answered the door
and invited Bourdin in. Bourdin had indeed succeeded in
gaining the confidence of Man Ray, who later wrote the
catalogue for Bourdins first exhibition in 1952.
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 In 1950 he returned to Paris, where he met Man Ray, and
became his protégé. Bourdin made his first exhibition of
drawings and paintings at Galerie, Rue de la Bourgogne, Paris.
His first photographic exhibition was in 1953. He exhibited under
the pseudonym Edwin Hallan in his early career. His first fashion
shots were published in the February 1955 issue of Vogue Paris.
As a contemporary of Helmut Newton, who also worked
extensively for Vogue, Bourdin helped establish what would
come to be known as contemporary photography. "Between him
and me the magazine became pretty irresistible in many ways
and we complemented each other. If he had been alone or I had
been alone it wouldn't have worked." He continued to work for
the magazine until 1987.

An editor of Vogue magazine introduced Bourdin to shoe

designer Charles Jourdan, who became his patron, and Bourdin
shot Jourdan's ad campaigns between 1967 and 1981. His
quirky anthropomorphic compositions, intricate mise en scene
ads were recognised as distinctly Bourdin-esque and were
always eagerly anticipated by the media.

In 1985, Bourdin turned down the Grand Prix National de la

Photographie, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture, but his
name is retained on the list of award winners.
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 Style
Bourdin was the first photographer to create a complex
narrative. His photographs are often richly sensual but also rely
heavily on provocation and ability to shock. Additionally
integrating erotic, surreal, sinister components— Bourdin
configured a whole new visual vocabulary with which to
associate the goods of haute-couture. The narratives were
strange and mysterious, often plainly exhibiting violence and
graphic sexuality. Evident through astute reading of his
compositional and thematic presentation, Bourdin's profited
from the influence of a diverse collection of contemporaries: first
and foremost, his mentor Man Ray, Also the photographer
Edward Weston, surrealist painters Magritte and Balthus, and
Spanish surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Although less of a
commercial success (and perhaps less aesthetically ambitious)
than his colleague at Vogue, Newton, the legacy of Bourdin's
images has had an equally profound impact on younger
generations of fashion photographers up to the present day.

Because Bourdin's models "often appeared dead or injured",

some critics have accused him of objectifying women. His
photographs were described as "highly controlled" and "famous
for a mysterious sense of danger and sex, of the fearsome but
desirable, of the taboo and the surreal".
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 Vogue Paris
may 1970 - may 1978
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 Legacy
Bourdin was not a natural self-promoter, and did not collect his
work or make any attempt to preserve them; in fact he refused
several offers of exhibitions, rejected ideas for books, and
wanted his work destroyed after his death (but since he did not
keep so much of his work for himself, most of it was saved). His
photography only appeared in magazines because he
"shunned" books, exhibits, and awards. The first major book
devoted to his work was Exhibit A, released ten years after his
death.

Madonna's 2003 music video for "Hollywood" was greatly

influenced by the photography of Bourdin, so much so that a
lawsuit was brought against her by Bourdin's son for copyright
infringement.

Dreamgirls: The photographs of Guy Bourdin, a documentary,

was screened for the BBC in 1991.

Contemporary photographers such as Mert Alas and Marcus

Piggott, Jean Baptiste Mondino, Nick Knight and David
LaChapelle have admitted to being great admirers of his work.
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 Upside down
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 Vogue Paris
1960
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 Vogue Paris
december ` january 1969 ` 1970
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 Shoes
summer 1976
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Eyes
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 Romance of the Maiden
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 Charles Jourdan by Guy Bourdin
january 1980
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 Vogue Paris
1967
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 Women in White
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Red
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 Vogue Paris
1977
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 Goldfish Incident
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 Purple Gown
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 Vogue Italia
april 1969
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 Paternity
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Fire
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 Blind People
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 Milk Dribble
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 Evening
1976
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 Marisa Berenson
1966
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 Vogue Paris
1976
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 Vogue Paris
1977
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Flower
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 Vogue
1971
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 Vogue Paris
1979
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Legs
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 Charles Jourdan Advertisement
1977
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 Cool as Fox
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 Vogue Paris
february 1971
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 Vogue
1958
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 FAN-MADE BOOK CREATED BY IVAN SAKHAROV
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