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.
