Guy Bourdin - Photographer

[Estella*]

thanks for the pictures, fredo. please don't forget to credit your sources, i know you scan a lot of the work yourself but it's necessary to add this information as due to our policy we are to edit all uncredited pictures

 

[fredo]

I suppose sources mean books?
For Bourdin, the scan of Anouck Aimée come from the first number of FMR in french (the franco maria ricci revue), all the others are scanned in the book published in 2004 for the exposition Guy Bourdin at the Jeu de Paume (paris). For Blumenfeld, beaton, Maywald and Clarke, it's more difficult because I don't have anymore all the books (I take them in public librairy or I give them to my friends).
Blumenfeld : a little book published by fnac galeries (1984), Blumenfeld, le culte de la beauté (1996) and an other book I can't remember now.
Beaton : cecil beaton published by le chêne (1984) and two others books
Maywald : Willy Maywald by Elisabeth Pineau (2003) and an other book
Clarke : henry clarke, l'élégance des années cinquante (Herscher, Paris, 1986)
I will try to find the others titles for the holidays.
Fred
PS. last but not least, four others of my scans of Guy Bourdin

thanks for the pictures, fredo. please don't forget to credit your sources, i know you scan a lot of the work yourself but it's necessary to add this information as due to our policy we are to edit all uncredited pictures

 

[fredo]

Anna, I'm sorry , my girlfriend went to the public librairy this afternoon, but she can't have all the books I scanned. And I will not have the time next week to search them. Even for Bourdin, I remember now I use an other book for some photos because they were better but unfortunatly I don't remember the title.
I think I will have the time to find all the books next summer. My next post will be send in august 2006
fred

thanks for the pictures, fredo. please don't forget to credit your sources, i know you scan a lot of the work yourself but it's necessary to add this information as due to our policy we are to edit all uncredited pictures

 

[lady stardust]

He is the GREATEST photographer ever.

He was a magican with a camera

 

[Incroyable]

He is the GREATEST photographer ever.

Maybe the best fashion photographer but I would hesitate before calling him the best photographer in all contexts.

Guy Bourdin creates mise-en-scenes of personal surrealism and intimidation with ironic nods to sex, power, and the fashion world itself. Helmut Newton took aesthetic cues from and I would compare some of his gloss with Jeanloup Sieff.

However, his alienation asthetic has a correlation, I feel, with Ralp Eugene Meatyard, one of the best realist photographers along the lines of Diane Arbus, Gary Winogrand, et al.

Lucybelle Crater & her good, good Mertonian friend Lucybelle Crater

 

[Incroyable]

Prob the greatest shoe photographer ever (and than some!woot:

This one is a tribute photograph shot by someone else for a contest at Guy Bourdin's website.

 

[lance77]

Hello everyone,

I had a very interesting meeting with my country's top fashion show producer recently.
I showed him Guy Bourdin's images whom I'v admired and I'm currently studying right now. the producer made a very interesting remarked. He noted that Guy Bourdin's like the poor man's Helmut Newton.

It made sense to me to a certain extent, because both have aimed (consciously or subconsciously) to include physchological undertones in their images. Guy Bourdin seemed to make a more deliberate effort in doing that but Helmut had achieved bigger recognition.

What do u think? about this statement of "Guy Bourdin's like the poor man's version of Helmut Newton" ?

 

[chicgarcon]

how do you pro|nounce his name..?

 

[Flicker]

how do you pro|nounce his name..?

gee bourdahn
erm... imagine a french accent too!

 

[Flicker]

Hello everyone,

I had a very interesting meeting with my country's top fashion show producer recently.
I showed him Guy Bourdin's images whom I'v admired and I'm currently studying right now. the producer made a very interesting remarked. He noted that Guy Bourdin's like the poor man's Helmut Newton.

It made sense to me to a certain extent, because both have aimed (consciously or subconsciously) to include physchological undertones in their images. Guy Bourdin seemed to make a more deliberate effort in doing that but Helmut had achieved bigger recognition.

What do u think? about this statement of "Guy Bourdin's like the poor man's version of Helmut Newton" ?

I did my french oral project on Bourdin, and talked a little about Newton.

I think that Bourdin actually started this style; he opened it up for other photographers like Newton, who was much bigger in the 60s but Bourdin was successful a bit earlier than that. I think Bourdin broke out of the fashion advertising mould, of nice, sanitized women and his work allowed the p*rno-chic movement to establish in France. In a similar way I think it was easier for Newton to take photos after Bourdin had started his career.

Bourdin also hated his work... he felt he had sold out, that his work could not be considered as real art. When he died he burnt a lot of his work, it's just lucky his son managed to find and gather what was left.

He also disliked socialising with the fashion world. Thus little self-promotion compared to Newton, and he was French. For some reason, Americans in fashion are terribly well-known over European counterparts (example: Anna Wintour... I don't know any other Vogue editors except Elizabeth Shulman and that's cos I'm British and know British Vogue). Although that's my opinion, so don't take it too seriously!

So basically... you ask 'is Bourdin the poor man's Newton'?
You have got to be joking. In my opinion he is far and above Newton, in that he had to work harder for success, and he paved the way for Newton and others like him. Just because one photographer is more famous than another does not mean he (or she) is necessarily the best.

 

[Flicker]

Elizabeth Shulman

Edit notice, as I don't know how to actually edit that post: Alexandra Shulman, ah that's going to bug me forever!

 

[iluvjeisa]

I did my french oral project on Bourdin, and talked a little about Newton.

I think that Bourdin actually started this style; he opened it up for other photographers like Newton, who was much bigger in the 60s but Bourdin was successful a bit earlier than that. I think Bourdin broke out of the fashion advertising mould, of nice, sanitized women and his work allowed the p*rno-chic movement to establish in France. In a similar way I think it was easier for Newton to take photos after Bourdin had started his career.

Bourdin also hated his work... he felt he had sold out, that his work could not be considered as real art. When he died he burnt a lot of his work, it's just lucky his son managed to find and gather what was left.

He also disliked socialising with the fashion world. Thus little self-promotion compared to Newton, and he was French. For some reason, Americans in fashion are terribly well-known over European counterparts (example: Anna Wintour... I don't know any other Vogue editors except Elizabeth Shulman and that's cos I'm British and know British Vogue). Although that's my opinion, so don't take it too seriously!

So basically... you ask 'is Bourdin the poor man's Newton'?
You have got to be joking. In my opinion he is far and above Newton, in that he had to work harder for success, and he paved the way for Newton and others like him. Just because one photographer is more famous than another does not mean he (or she) is necessarily the best.

Bourdin and Newton are the best fashion photographers ever, with possible competition from Scavullo and Avedon. They were all always fantastic, though of course Bourdin and Newton were far more risque and burlesque.

I really don't understand how either of these photographers can be called a poor man's anything. Genius. Pure genius, that's what they all were.

 

[Whitelinen]

^I agree with you 100%

 

[Hans_K]

Guy Bourdain is a pioneering genious! The amount of photographers that you see "a part of his work in" today are countless.

 

[fredo]

a new image of bourdin

I find it in an old french mag, sorry for the quality of the scan.

 

[Monmonde]

I find most of his works absolutely stunning and intriguing... He is my favorite photographer and the greatest photographer ever IMO.

 

[lance77]

So basically... you ask 'is Bourdin the poor man's Newton'?
You have got to be joking. In my opinion he is far and above Newton, in that he had to work harder for success, and he paved the way for Newton and others like him. Just because one photographer is more famous than another does not mean he (or she) is necessarily the best.

Like i said earlier, i admired and enjoyed his work

I'm merely pondering over a friend's remark. I'll stop short at judging who's better - Bourdin or Newton.

The big difference is - Bourdin saw his practice as art, while Newton gunned for commercial success and recognition in fashion.

 

[Flicker]

Like i said earlier, i admired and enjoyed his work

I'm merely pondering over a friend's remark. I'll stop short at judging who's better - Bourdin or Newton.

The big difference is - Bourdin saw his practice as art, while Newton gunned for commercial success and recognition in fashion.

ah, yes i didn't mean to sound so... indignant about it, but i have strong opinions about the matter as you can obviously tell, ha.

but i agree at the difference between them, that's certainly true. it's just a matter of opinion of who is better, i suppose.

 

[iluvjeisa]

Like i said earlier, i admired and enjoyed his work

I'm merely pondering over a friend's remark. I'll stop short at judging who's better - Bourdin or Newton.

The big difference is - Bourdin saw his practice as art, while Newton gunned for commercial success and recognition in fashion.

Although I'm a bit OT here, since this is the Bourdin thread, I really think a lot of photographers don't even know, or recognize, that Newton did his very best photography for Vogue. All his work is great, but oh when he worked with the fashion editors, he must have gotten so much inspiration from being around them. I think he was the ultimate fashion photographer - being able to actually take the ideas of editors and improving on their vision of the clothing while retaining his own style.

Does anyone know of any Bourdin interviews? I have no idea what drove him, but perhaps its better that way, really, not knowing is often better

 

[marcjacobslove]

hey, does anybody know where to purchase "67 polaroids"? i've searched ebay and amazon. any other suggestions? i desperately need to find this Bourdin book.