Guy Bourdin.Guy Bourdin Guy Bourdin (born December 2 1928 in Paris, died March 29 1991 of cancer in Paris) was one of the best known photographers of fashion and advertising of the second half of the 20th century. He worked for Vogue magazine from 1955 onwards for roughly 30 years. edited by Charlotte Cotton and Shelly Verthime Abrams, 2003/168 pp./$55 (hb). Guy Bourdin (1928-1981) is probably to advertising/fashion photography what Tony Ray-Jones Tony Ray-Jones (Wells, Somerset, June 7, 1941 - London, March 13, 1972) was a British photographer. Born Holroyd Anthony Ray-Jones, he was the youngest son of Raymond Ray-Jones (1886-1942), a painter and engraver who died when his son was only eight months old, and Effie is to British photography British photography refers to the tradition of photographic work undertaken by committed photographers and photographic artists in the British Isles. This includes those notable photographers from Europe who have made their home in Britain and contributed so strongly to the , what Gary Winogrand is to American street photography (especially in his Women Are Beautiful.) All three photographers have defined and asserted very idiosyncratic id·i·o·syn·cra·sy n. pl. id·i·o·syn·cra·sies 1. A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group. 2. A physiological or temperamental peculiarity. 3. visions that ally humor, irony, and in the case of Winogrand and Bourdin a certain attitude toward women that has been considered controversial and objectionable. In the world of fashion photography, which is what Bourdin's work is exclusively dedicated to, Helmut Newton Helmut Newton, born Helmut Neustädter (October 31, 1920, Berlin, Germany – January 23, 2004, West Hollywood, California, USA) was a German-Australian fashion photographer noted for his nude studies of women. is, without any doubt, the kindred spirit that emulates Bourdin. Bourdin seemed to entertain a morbid fascination for women that he expressed in surrealistic sur·re·al·is·tic adj. 1. Of or relating to surrealism. 2. Having an oddly dreamlike or unreal quality. sur·re images whose impact relied on the efficiency of simple compositions and strong color. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Drama and death in the pursuit of the white rabbit was a common occurrence for the Alices in Bourdin's photographs. His Alices have grown into adult and sexual subjects but still maintain an almost perverse, at least fascinated relationship with childhood--from the viewer's/photographer's point of view--a surreal combination of Visconti's Death in Venice Death in Venice aging successful author loses his lifelong self-discipline in his love for a beautiful Polish boy. [Ger. Lit: Death in Venice] See : Homosexuality and Nabokov's Lolita. One of the main differences between Bourdin's photography and the works of the above-mentioned artists is that it is hardly known outside the magazines that published him such as Vogue or Harper's Bazaar. Bourdin always refused to be recognized and honored outside his commercial field. He sometimes spoke of a potential book or exhibition but always opposed selling his work to collectors or to be published in magazines other than the ones who commissioned him. As a result, unlike Helmut Newton, his work is little known. In 1985 he even turned down the Grand Prix National de la Photographie awarded by the French Ministry of Culture. From 1967 to 1981 he dedicated himself to the advertising campaigns of the shoe manufacturer Charles Jourdan for whom he made his most famous, provocative, and color-saturated images. Guy Bourdin, the book, is the catalog of the first serious retrospective exhibition of the photographer's work curated by Charlotte Cotton for the Victoria and Albert Museum Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London, opened in 1852 as the Museum of Manufacturers at Marlborough House. It originally contained a nucleus of contemporary objects of applied art bought from the Great Exhibition of 1851 at the instigation of the in London. Insightful essays by Laurence Benaim, Rosetta Brooks, Charlotte Cotton, Philippe Garner, and Shelly Verthime accompany the images. The exhibition opened on April 17 and will close its doors on August 17, 2003. Several events linked to the show, a concert of contemporary French music sponsored by Les Inrock-uptibles, a panel discussion with Rosetta Brooks, Charlotte Cotton and David Mellor, an evening with Jean-Paul Gaultier are also scheduled. Information: http://www.vam.ac.uk. |
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