Guy Bourdin (Born in Paris 1928, died in Paris 1991)

Guy Bourdin was the first true ‘auteur’ in fashion photography, drawing on his personal emotions, to create complex narratives, ranging from the sensual and exotic to the surreal and macabre.

His career as a fashion photographer began in 1955 with an assignment for French Vogue. Straight off, he proved himself different, by photographing beautiful models in hats against a backdrop of animal carcasses in a butcher’s shop. Those images would set the tone for much of his work for French Vogue over the next three decades.

Bourdin went to extreme lengths to achieve his images. He once kept a naked Ursula Andress waiting for hours on a cold glass table in his studio while his assistants rushed around Paris to find rose petals to match her skin tone.

But Bourdin also had a humorous side, as seen in his campaign for shoe manufacturer Charles Jourdan, with giant shoes turning up in hotel corridors in New York.

Bourdin shot his images purely for the magazine page and refused offers to have them published in monographs or show them at galleries. Prints would occasionally be given as presents to friends and associates. Vintage prints are therefore extremely rare.