Guy Bourdin
Encyclopedia
Guy Louis Bourdin born Guy Louis Banarès, was a French fashion photographer.
During his military service in Dakar
(1948–1949), he received his first photography training as a cadet in the French Air Force
.
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. Bourdin exhibited under the pseudonym Edwin Hallan in his early career.
His first fashion shots were published in the February issue of Vogue Paris
in 1955. He continued to work for the magazine until 1987.
Bourdin married Solange Marie Louise Gèze in 1961, who gave birth to his only child, Samuel in 1967. His wife died of a heart condition in Normandy in 1971.
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 greatly recognized and always greatly 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.
Bourdin was one of the best known photographers
of fashion and advertising of the second half of the 20th century. He shared Helmut Newton
's taste for controversy and stylization, but Bourdin's formal daring and the narrative power of his images exceeded the bounds of conventional advertising photography. Shattering expectations and questioning boundaries, 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
.
Since his death, Guy Bourdin has been hailed as one of the greatest fashion photographers of all time, and his son Samuel Bourdin released a book with the finest prints of his father's work, called "Exhibit A" in 2001 (co-edited with Fernando Delgado). His first retrospective exhibition was held at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London 2003, and then toured the National gallery of Victoria in Melbourne
, and Jeu de Paume
in Paris.
, photographer Edward Weston
, the surrealist painters Magritte and Balthus
, and film maker Luis Buñuel
. Even though much less well known to the public than his colleague Helmut Newton
(also working for Vogue), Bourdin possibly has been more influential on the younger generations of fashion photographers.
Madonna's 2003 music video for Hollywood was greatly influenced by the photography of Bourdin, so much so that a lawsuit was brought on against her by Bourdin's son for copyright infringement.
A documentary program, Dreamgirls: The photographs of Guy Bourdin, was shown for the BBC in 1991. Fashion photographers like Helmut Newton and Jean-Baptiste Mondino talked about how Bourdin managed to shoot fashion photography in his own unique way .
Contemporary photographers such as Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott
, Jean Baptiste Mondino, Nick Knight
, David LaChapelle
and Hudson Manilla
have admitted to being great admirers of his work.
Jonathan Cape Ltd - 2003, ISBN 978-0224062046
Guy Bourdin
HNA Books - 2003, ISBN 978-0810966055
Guy Bourdin
Phaidon Press Ltd - 2006, ISBN 978-0714843032
Guy Bourdin: In Between
Steidl - 2010, ISBN 978-3869300337
Guy Bourdin: Polaroids
Editions Xavier Barral - 2010, ISBN 978-2915173567
Guy Bourdin (Stern Fotographie Portfolio)
Stern; Bilingual edition - 2010, ISBN 978-3652000024
Guy Bourdin (Re-Issue)
Phaidon Press Ltd - 2011, ISBN 978-0714862583
Life and career
Guy Louis Banarès was born December 2, 1928, at 7 Rue Popincourt, Paris. He was abandoned by his mother the following year, and was adopted by Maurice Désiré Bourdin, who brought him up with the help of his mother Marguerite Legay.During his military service in Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...
(1948–1949), he received his first photography training as a cadet in the French Air Force
French Air Force
The French Air Force , literally Army of the Air) is the air force of the French Armed Forces. It was formed in 1909 as the Service Aéronautique, a service arm of the French Army, then was made an independent military arm in 1933...
.
In 1950 he returned to Paris, where he met Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
, 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. Bourdin exhibited under the pseudonym Edwin Hallan in his early career.
His first fashion shots were published in the February issue of Vogue Paris
Vogue Paris
The French edition of Vogue magazine, Vogue Paris, is a fashion magazine that has been published since 1920.-1920–1954:The French edition of Vogue was first issued on June 15, 1920. More information about French Vogue in the 1920s is available in Mary E. Davis's book Classic Chic: Music, Fashion,...
in 1955. He continued to work for the magazine until 1987.
Bourdin married Solange Marie Louise Gèze in 1961, who gave birth to his only child, Samuel in 1967. His wife died of a heart condition in Normandy in 1971.
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 greatly recognized and always greatly 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.
Bourdin was one of the best known photographers
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
of fashion and advertising of the second half of the 20th century. He shared Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton, born Helmut Neustädter was a German-Australian photographer. He was a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-and-white photos were a mainstay of Vogue and other publications."-Early life:Newton was born in Berlin, the son of Klara...
's taste for controversy and stylization, but Bourdin's formal daring and the narrative power of his images exceeded the bounds of conventional advertising photography. Shattering expectations and questioning boundaries, he set the stage for a new kind of fashion photography. Bourdin worked for Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
and Harper's Bazaar
Harper's Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...
, and shot ad campaigns for Chanel
Chanel
Chanel S.A. is a French fashion house founded by the couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, well established in haute couture, specializing in luxury goods . She gained the name "Coco" while maintaining a career as a singer at a café in France...
, Issey Miyake
Issey Miyake
is a Japanese fashion designer. He is known for his technology-driven clothing designs, exhibitions and fragrances.-Life and career:Miyake was born 22 April 1938 in Hiroshima, Japan. As a seven year-old, he witnessed and survived the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. He studied...
, Emanuel Ungaro
Emanuel Ungaro
Emanuel Ungaro is a French fashion designer.-Early life:Ungaro's Italian father fled to France from Francavilla Fontana of Brindisi province because of the fascist uprising in Italy...
, Gianni Versace
Gianni Versace
Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer and founder of Gianni Versace S.p.A., an international fashion house, which produces accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings as well as clothes. He also designed costumes for the theatre and films, and was a friend of Madonna, Elton John,...
, Loewe
Loewe (brand)
Loewe is a Spanish luxury clothing and accessories brand based in Madrid and is owned by the LVMH Group. Loewe is known around the world as being one of the very best when it comes to luxury leather goods.- History :...
, Pentax
Pentax
Pentax is a brand name used by Hoya Corporation for its medical-related products & services and Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company for cameras, sport optics , etc. Hoya purchased and merged with the Japanese optics company on March 31, 2008. Hoya's Pentax imaging business was sold to Ricoh Company, Ltd...
and Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's is an American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. .Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side...
.
Since his death, Guy Bourdin has been hailed as one of the greatest fashion photographers of all time, and his son Samuel Bourdin released a book with the finest prints of his father's work, called "Exhibit A" in 2001 (co-edited with Fernando Delgado). His first retrospective exhibition was held at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London 2003, and then toured the National gallery of Victoria in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, and Jeu de Paume
Jeu de paume
Jeu de paume is a ball-and-court game that originated in France. It was an indoor precursor of tennis played without racquets, though these were eventually introduced. It is a former Olympic sport, and has the oldest ongoing annual world championship in sport, first established over 250 years ago...
in Paris.
Style and themes
Bourdin was the first photographer to create a complex narrative, then snatch a moment — sensual, provocative, shocking, exotic, surrealistic, sometimes sinister — and simply associate it with a fashion item. The narratives were strange and mysterious, sometimes full of violence, sexuality, and surrealism. Bourdin was influenced by his mentor Man RayMan Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
, photographer Edward Weston
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was a 20th century 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 of his forty-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of...
, the surrealist painters Magritte and Balthus
Balthus
Balthasar Klossowski de Rola , best known as Balthus, was an esteemed but controversial Polish-French modern artist....
, and film maker Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
. Even though much less well known to the public than his colleague Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton, born Helmut Neustädter was a German-Australian photographer. He was a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-and-white photos were a mainstay of Vogue and other publications."-Early life:Newton was born in Berlin, the son of Klara...
(also working for Vogue), Bourdin possibly has been more influential on the younger generations of fashion photographers.
Personal life
Guy Bourdin was a short man with a whiny voice, and had a reputation of being incredibly demanding. Dark rumours surrounded him: his mother abandoning him as an infant, the suicides of his wife and two of his girlfriends, and the cruelty in which he treated his models.Since his death
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 didn’t keep so much of his work for himself, fortunately most of it was saved). The first major book devoted to his work was Exhibit A (mentioned above), 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 on against her by Bourdin's son for copyright infringement.
A documentary program, Dreamgirls: The photographs of Guy Bourdin, was shown for the BBC in 1991. Fashion photographers like Helmut Newton and Jean-Baptiste Mondino talked about how Bourdin managed to shoot fashion photography in his own unique way .
Contemporary photographers such as Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott
Mert and Marcus
Mert and Marcus are Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, fashion photographers. Their work and style is heavily influenced and shaped by the photography of Guy Bourdin and also the use of digital manipulation of which they have pioneered the use...
, Jean Baptiste Mondino, Nick Knight
Nick Knight (photographer)
Nick Knight OBE is a British fashion photographer, documentary photographer, and web publisher—as director of SHOWstudio.com.-Life and career:Knight studied at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design....
, David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle is a photographer and director who works in the fields of fashion, advertising, and fine art photography, and is noted for his surreal, unique, sexualized, and often humorous style.-Early life:...
and Hudson Manilla
Hudson Manilla
Hudson ManillaHudson Manilla is an internationally published photographer from Scotland who is best known for his intimate, yet highly stylised fashion/erotic imagery....
have admitted to being great admirers of his work.
Books
Exhibit A: Guy BourdinJonathan Cape Ltd - 2003, ISBN 978-0224062046
Guy Bourdin
HNA Books - 2003, ISBN 978-0810966055
Guy Bourdin
Phaidon Press Ltd - 2006, ISBN 978-0714843032
Guy Bourdin: In Between
Steidl - 2010, ISBN 978-3869300337
Guy Bourdin: Polaroids
Editions Xavier Barral - 2010, ISBN 978-2915173567
Guy Bourdin (Stern Fotographie Portfolio)
Stern; Bilingual edition - 2010, ISBN 978-3652000024
Guy Bourdin (Re-Issue)
Phaidon Press Ltd - 2011, ISBN 978-0714862583
External links
- guybourdin.org
- Guy Bourdin @ pHinnWeb
- MADEinPHOTO.fr Gallery of the most important photographers of the XX° century