Guy Bourdin, was a French artist and fashion photographer known for his highly stylized and provocative images.
21 Facts About Guy Bourdin
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From 1955, Bourdin worked mostly with Vogue as well as other publications including Harper's Bazaar.
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Guy Bourdin shot ad campaigns for Chanel, Charles Jourdan, Pentax and Bloomingdale's.
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Guy Bourdin is considered one of the best-known photographers of fashion and advertising of the second half of the 20th century.
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Guy Bourdin set the stage for a new kind of fashion photography.
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Guy Bourdin's parents separated when he was an infant and he was sent to live with his paternal grandparents who owned a house in Normandy.
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Guy Bourdin's grandparents were owners of a restaurant in Paris called Brasserie Bourdin.
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Edward Weston 8.
When his father, who was only 18 at the time of his birth, remarried, Guy Bourdin was again under his care.
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Apparently Guy Bourdin only saw his mother once when she arrived at the Brasserie to present him with a gift.
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At the age of eighteen Guy Bourdin embarked on a cycling tour in Provence during which he met art-dealer Lucien Henry.
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Guy Bourdin passed six months living at Henry's house where he concentrated on painting and drawing until it was time for his mandatory military service.
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Guy Bourdin was first introduced to photography during his service in the Air Force.
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Guy Bourdin was turned away from Man Ray's door six times by his wife and on the seventh finally succeeding in gaining the artist's company when Man Ray himself answered the door and invited Guy Bourdin in.
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Guy Bourdin had indeed succeeded in gaining the confidence of Man Ray, who later wrote the catalogue for Guy Bourdin's first exhibition in 1952 after accepting him as a protege.
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Guy Bourdin made his first exhibition of drawings and paintings at Galerie, Rue de la Bourgogne, Paris.
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Guy Bourdin exhibited under the pseudonym "Edwin Hallan" in his early career.
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In 1985, Guy Bourdin turned down the Grand Prix National de la Photographie, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture, but his name is retained on the list of award winners.
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Guy Bourdin was among the first to imagine fashion photographies that contained fascinating narratives, dramatic effects with intense color saturation, hyper-realism and cropped compositions while he established the idea that the product is secondary to the image.
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Guy Bourdin's photographs are often richly sensual but rely heavily on provocation and ability to shock.
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Guy Bourdin configured a whole new visual vocabulary with which to associate the goods of haute-couture.
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Evident through astute reading of his compositional and thematic presentation, Guy Bourdin profited from the influence of a diverse collection of contemporaries: first and foremost, his mentor Man Ray, but the photographer Edward Weston, surrealist painters Magritte and Balthus, and Spanish surrealist filmmaker Luis Bunuel.