Guy Bourdin (2 December 1928 – 29 March 1991), was a French artist and

fashion photographer Fashion photography is a genre of photography that portrays clothing and other fashion items. This sometimes includes haute couture garments. It typically consists of a fashion photographer taking pictures of a dressed model in a photographic stu ...

known for his highly stylized and provocative images. From 1955, Bourdin worked mostly with ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'' as well as other publications including ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

''. He shot ad campaigns for

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. It is privately owned by French brothers, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, through the holding company Chanel Limited, established in 2018 and headquarte ...

, Charles Jourdan,

Pentax was a Japanese camera and optical equipment manufacturer. Currently, it exists as the Pentax Life Care Business Division of Hoya's medical endoscope business, as well as the digital camera brand of Ricoh Imaging, a subsidiary of Ricoh. Penta ...

and

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...

. His work is collected by important institutions including

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

in London,

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

and

Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthies ...

. The first retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London in 2003, and then toured the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

in Melbourne, Australia, and the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris. The

is permanently exhibiting a part of its collection (one of the largest) with works made between 1950 and 1955. He is considered one of the best-known

photographers A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

of fashion and advertising of the second half of the 20th century. He set the stage for a new kind of fashion photography. "While conventional fashion images make beauty and clothing their central elements, Bourdin’s photographs offer a radical alternative."

Life and career

Bourdin was born 2 December 1928 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. 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. 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 Henry's 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 Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

(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 also continued to paint, draw and take pictures. During this time he exhibited some of his drawings and in 1950 sought out the mentorship of American expatriate and prodigious

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...

. 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 Bourdin's first exhibition in 1952 after accepting him as a 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 ''Vogue France'' (stylised in all caps) is the French edition of '' Vogue'' magazine, formerly called ''Vogue Paris'' from its inception until 2021. The magazine started publication in 1920 and has since been regarded as one of the top fashion ...

''. As a contemporary of

Helmut Newton Helmut Newton (né Neustädter; 31 October 192023 January 2004) was a German-Australian photographer. The ''The New York Times, New York Times'' described him as a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically ch ...

, who also worked extensively for Vogue, Bourdin helped establish what contemporary photography is today. Newton observed, "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 the late 1980s. 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 , awarded by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

, but his name is retained on the list of award winners. He died of cancer in 1991. According to

Manolo Blahnik Manuel "Manolo" Blahnik Rodríguez (; born 27 November 1942) is a Spanish fashion designer and founder of the eponymous high-end shoe brand. Biography Blahnik was born in Santa Cruz de la Palma, in the Canary Islands (Spain), to a Czech father ...

, Bourdin's creative legacy is so immense that his shoes will never be filled by another.

Style

Guy Bourdin was among the first to imagine fashion photographies that contained fascinating narratives, dramatic effects with intense color saturation, hyper-realism and cropped compositions while he established the idea that the product is secondary to the image. Bourdin's photographs are often richly sensual but also rely heavily on provocation and ability to shock. Bourdin configured a whole new visual vocabulary with which to associate the goods of haute-couture. The narratives were strange and mysterious, inspired by literature, cinema and art history. Evident through astute reading of his compositional and thematic presentation, Bourdin profited from the influence of a diverse collection of contemporaries: first and foremost, his mentor Man Ray, but also the photographer

Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was an American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course ...

, surrealist painters Magritte and

Balthus Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his ima ...

, and Spanish surrealist filmmaker

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

Publications

* ''Guy Bourdin.'' HNA, 2003. . * ''Exhibit A: Guy Bourdin.'' London:

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

, 2003. . * ''Guy Bourdin.'' London: Phaidon, 2006. . * ''A Message For You.'' Göttingen:

Steidl Steidl is a German-language publisher based in Göttingen, Germany. Founded in 1968 by Gerhard Steidl, it publishes photobooks. Overview The company was started by Gerhard Steidl.Bill Kouwenhoven, "Off to see the wizard", ''British Journa ...

Dangin, 2006. . * ''Guy Bourdin (Stern Fotographie Portfolio).'' Hamburg:

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

, 2010. . Bilingual edition. * ''Guy Bourdin: Polaroids.'' Xavier Barral, 2010. . * ''Guy Bourdin: In Between.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2010. . * ''A Message For You.'' Göttingen: Steidl Dangin, 2013. . * ''Untouched.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2017. . * ''A Message For You.'' Göttingen: Steidl, 2017. . * ''Guy Bourdin: The Portraits.'' Studio des Acacias: Mazarine, 2017. . * ''Guy Bourdin: Image Maker.'' Assouline, 2017. . * ''Guy Bourdin: Untouched.'' Steidl, 2017. .

Awards

* 1988: Infinity Award,

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP) is a photography museum and school at 84 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. ICP's photographic collection, reading room, and archives are at Mana Contemporary in Jer ...

, New York, for his 1987 Chanel advertising campaign.

Collections

Bourdin's work is held in the following public collections: *

, London: 27 works acquired in 2014 *

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, London *

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York *

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

, New York City *

, Los Angeles, California *

, San Francisco, California *

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

, Houston, Texas * Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland *

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a museum institution located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan. It has list of largest art museums, one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it cove ...

, Detroit, Portrait of Kelly Williams at Académie Colarossi

Solo exhibitions

* 1950 First exhibition of drawings and paintings at Galerie, Rue de Bourgogne, Paris. * 1952 Exhibition of photographs at Galerie 29, The catalogue includes an introduction by

. Paris. * 1953 Exhibition of photographs under the pseudonym "Edwin Hallan" at

Galerie Huit Galerie Huit was an art collective and gallery established by American artists in Paris in 1950. During the mid-twentieth century American artists traveled and lived in Paris to study and make art. Many of the male American artists were able ...

, Paris. * 1954 Exhibition of drawings at Galerie de Beaune, Paris. * 1955 Exhibition of drawings at Galerie des Amis des Arts, Paris. * 1955 Exhibition of paintings at Galerie Charpentier, Paris. * 1956 Exhibition of drawings at Galerie de Seine, Paris. * 1957 Exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Peter Deitsch Gallery, New York City. * 1961 Salon International du Portrait Photographie * 2003–2013 ''The Retrospective,''

, London; National Gallery Victoria, Melbourne, 2004; Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2004;

Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam Foam or Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam is a photography museum located on Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The museum has four different exhibitions at any given time in which different photographic genres are shown, such as documentary p ...

(Foam), Amsterdam, 2004;

Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is the art collection of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, in Düsseldorf. United by this institution are three different exhibition venues: the ''K20'' at Grabbeplatz, the ''K21'' in th ...

, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2005;

National Art Museum of China The National Art Museum of China (NAMOC; ) is the national art museum of China and one of the largest art museums in the nation. Located in Beijing and opened since 1963, it is a level-1 public welfare institution funded by the Ministry of Cultur ...

, Beijing, China, 2005; Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China, 2006;

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography The is an art museum concentrating on photography. As the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, it was founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and is in Meguro-ku, a short walk from Ebisu station in southwest Tokyo. The museum also ...

, Tokyo, 2006; Daimaru Umeda Museum, Osaka, Japan, 2006;

KunstHausWien The KunstHausWien is a museum in Vienna, designed by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. This museum in the Landstraße district houses the world's only permanent exhibition of Hundertwasser's works, and also hosts regular temporary exhibiti ...

, Vienna, Austria, 2008; FotoMuseum, Antwerp, Belgium, 2008; Moscow House of Photography, Moscow, 2009; Museu Brasileiro de Escultura (MuBE), São Paulo, Brazil, 2009; Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto Alegre, Brazil 2011;

Deichtorhallen The Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Germany, is one of Europe's largest art centers for contemporary art and photography. The two historical buildings dating from 1911 to 1913 are notable examples of industrial architecture from the transitional period ...

, Hamburg, Germany, 2013. * 2006–2014 ''A Message For You,'' Phillips, New York City, 2006;

Peggy Guggenheim Collection The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is an art museum on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro ''sestiere'' of Venice, Italy. It is one of the most visited attractions in Venice. The collection is housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, an 18th-century ...

, Venice, Italy, 2006; HSBC Foundation, Paris, 2006; Hollywood Centre, Hong Kong, 2007; Today Art Museum, Beijing, 2007; Gallery Carla Sozzani, Milan, Italy, 2009; Photography Festival, Cannes, France, 2009; Canal Isabel II, Madrid, 2010; Louise Alexander Gallery, Porto Cervo, Italy, 2014. * 2009 ''Ses films,''

Le Bon Marché 240px, Interior ( "the good market", or "the good deal" in French; ) is a department store in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. Founded in 1838 and revamped almost completely by Aristide Boucicaut in 1852, it was one of the first ...

, Paris, 2009; 10 Corso Como, Seoul, South Korea. * 2010 ''In Between,'' French Consulate, New York City. * 2013 ''Guy Bourdin: Archives,'' Louise Alexander Gallery, Porto Cervo, Italy. * 2014 ''Guy Bourdin: Image Maker,''

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

, London. * 2015 ''Guy Bourdin: Mise en abyme,''

Paris Photo Paris Photo is an annual international art fair dedicated to photography. It was founded in 1997, and is held in November at the Grand Palais exhibition hall and museum complex, located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement in Pari ...

, Louise Alexander Gallery, Paris. * 2015 ''Guy Bourdin: Avant Garde,''

Fotografiska Fotografiska (Swedish for “photographic”) is one of the most successful photography museums worldwide, dedicated to inspiring a more conscious world through the power of photography, art, and culture. Founded in Stockholm in 2010, Fotograf ...

, Stockholm. * 2016 ''Guy Bourdin: The Portraits,'' Studio des Acacias and Louise Alexander Gallery, Paris. * 2017 ''Guy Bourdin,'' solo show at Photo London 2017, Louise Alexander Gallery, Porto Cervo, Italy * 2017 ''Guy Bourdin,'' Louise Alexander Gallery, Porto Cervo, Italy * 2017 ''Guy Bourdin: Image Maker,'' Helmut Newton Foundation, Berlin * 2017 ''Femininities - Guy Bourdin'', Maison Chloé, Paris * 2019 Campredon Art Center, Isle sur la Sorgue, France * 2019 Museum of Photography Charles Nègre, Nice, France

References

External links

*
Art Matters , An L.A. Fair Explores the Possibilities of Photography

Guy Bourdin: A fetish for fashion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourdin, Guy 1928 births 1991 deaths Photographers from Paris French fashion photographers French adoptees Artists from Paris Fetish photographers French contemporary artists