Guy Bourdin - Photographs London Tuesday, November 23, 2021 | Phillips

Photographs

London Auction 23 November 2021

  • 'I have never perceived myself as responsible for my images. They are just accidents. I am not a director, merely an agent of chance.' —Guy Bourdin

    Best known for his provocative editorials in French Vogue and groundbreaking ad campaigns for Charles Jourdan during the 1960s and 70s, Guy Bourdin (1928-1991) pushed the boundaries of fashion photography with his sophisticated, seductive images that evoked a sense of mystery and the surreal. The surrealist aesthetic in his oeuvre is often attributed to his mentor Man Ray whom he met in Paris in 1950 and who wrote the catalogue forward for his first solo exhibition of photographs in 1952. Bourdin left an extraordinary legacy of radically changing fashion photography by presenting the clothes and accessories as merely one element of his narratives while engaging with society’s shifting attitudes towards femininity and sexuality. His instantly recognisable signature style continues to influence image-makers today.

    • Provenance

      Michael Hoppen Gallery, London

    • Literature

      C. Lowndes & S. Verthime, Guy Bourdin: A Message For You, São Paulo: Iguatemi, 2005, n.p.
      Guy Bourdin: A Message For You, Madrid: Castellano, 2010, pl. 11
      N. Meyer, Charles Bourdin: A Message For You, Göttingen: Stiedl/Dangin, 2013, pp. 48-49
      S. Verthime, Guy Bourdin: Image Maker, New York: Assouline, 2017, n.p.
      Guy Bourdin – Femininities, Paris: Chloé & Idea, 2017, p. 149

38

Guy Bourdin

French Vogue, May 1978

1978
Chromogenic print, mounted, printed later.
Image: 61 x 92.5 cm (24 x 36 3/8 in.)
Frame: 86 x 117.5 cm (33 7/8 x 46 1/4 in.)
Signed, numbered 2/18 by Samuel Bourdin, Executor, in ink and copyright credit stamp on the reverse of the mount.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£15,000 - 25,000 ♠

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Photographs

London Auction 23 November 2021