A protégé of the surrealist Man Ray, Guy Bourdin (1928-91) rose to fame
in the 1970s as a fashion photographer, working for Vogue magazine (Paris) and Charles
Jourdin, manufacturer of high class women’s shoes (and in particular stiletto
heels). Bourdin used his surrealist training, combined with a vivid imagination
and a head full of ideas, to overturn convention in the world of fashion and
advertising. He was a supreme innovator: where others used monochrome, he used
vivid colour. Where others concentrated their efforts on the model and the
product that (normally) she was wearing, he concentrated on the space
surrounding her or did away with the model completely, creating mysterious,
surreal tableaux around the product. Bourdin was also a perfectionist, planning
his shoots in great detail in the form of working drawings, paintings and even
Polaroid prints before producing his final work. Perhaps surprisingly he was
also a very private person, refusing all interviews and never selling his work,
despite receiving many generous offers. This exhibition, featuring over 100 of
his works, including movies, notebooks and working drawings (many previously
unseen), is the most comprehensive exhibition of Bourdin’s work to date.
Image 1 (Guy Bourdin
for Charles Jourdin)
Image 1 (above), which was used extensively to advertise this
exhibition, is typical of Bourdin’s work. Used as part of a Charles Jourdin
advertising campaign, the shoes are stylish and clearly visible but only form a
very small, if important part of the tableau. The eyes of the viewer (voyeur?)
are drawn to the model’s body; her legs and backside, as we ask the question:
what is she doing? Is there a gap between the red floor and the yellow wall if,
indeed, these are floor and wall? In the absence of the model we would have
been unaware of the three dimensionality of this image, but even in her
presence we can’t be sure how Bourdin created his set and of what it consisted.
Today we are used to seeing digitally altered images and (in particular) video
in which the aesthetics of the advertising, rather than its bland details,
attract us to a particular product. In Bourdin’s time this concept was
revolutionary. My feminist companion was somewhat offended by Image 1 and some other
images in the exhibition and there is indeed a feeling that the advertised
clothes and accessories are deliberately made to play “second fiddle” to an erotic,
titillating vision that prompts desire, for different reasons, in both men and
women. However, in the 1960s and 1970s a new Jourdan advertising campaign was
awaited with much anticipation.
The exhibition opens with several
prints from Bourdin’s “Walking Legs” series, produced on a road trip round the
UK in 1979. These photographs, again for the benefit of Charles Jourdin, do
away with the use of models. Instead, several pairs of mannequin lower legs
accompanied the heels, Bourdin, his partner, his son and an assistant on their journey. Giving
free rein to his imagination and surrealist roots, Bourdin produced a
collection of wild, fantastical images which explored the British culture (Image 2 is a good example). I have to
say that I admired the richness and diversity of Bourdin’s work in the
exhibition, his provocative use of eroticism and his daring (particularly for that era) in relegating the product, in many cases, to a minor role in the
photograph. Whilst his portraits for Vogue were more “mainstream” than his
Jourdin adverts they were still full of creativity in the way that he used his
models and the props that often accompanied them.
Image 2 (Guy Bourdin
for Charles Jourdin)
I thoroughly enjoyed this
exhibition. Bourdin was many years ahead of his time: much of his work would still
have been lauded if it had been produced today. In particular, his photographs
for Charles Jourdin are not only innovatory and aesthetically pleasing; they
also present tableaux that require the viewer to explore and interpret the
image and to tease out the significance of the story portrayed. Furthermore, they do this
without ever forgetting that they are advertising a particular product (for a
final example of this, see Image 3).
Image 3 (Guy Bourdin
for Charles Jourdin)
Bourdin’s creations were not
produced overnight. A lot of planning went into his work and each tableau was
probably prepared for several weeks prior to the final shoot. I can consider
using some of his ideas (which include the example of holding a Polaroid print
depicting a scene in the foreground of a modified version of the same scene:
many fine art photographers have subsequently “stolen” this device), but the
most important learning point that I can take from the exhibition is that
success and recognition in photographic art come from a combination of
imagination, planning and the drive to convert an idea into an end product.
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