Guy Bourdin

Subversion, Surrealism and Sex

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 Ray, 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. 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.
His notorious affinity for pale-skinned, red-headed models stems from the faint memory of his mother who abandoned him as an infant. The early deaths of his first wife and subsequent girlfriend were rumoured as suicides, surrounding him with controversy, and underlining the dark and at times disturbing themes found in his works.
I liked how his work was influenced his childhood. Reading everything about his past influenced the way I look at his pictures. I think that sometimes images with a hidden story behind them can be more attentions grabbing compared to the ones that don’t. Even though my images wont have a story behind them I want them to grab peoples attention in the way that Bourdins did.