Guy Bourdin

Opening Reception Thursday, October 18, 2001 7 to 9 pm

The Fahey/Klein Gallery is pleased to present the first exhibition in Los Angeles by French artist Guy Bourdin (1928-1991) and will coincide with the publication of Exhibit A: Guy Bourdin (Bulfinch Press), the first monograph on the photographer's work. The exhibition will feature wickedly compelling fashion photography from the mid 1950's through the late 1980's. Guy Bourdin's oeuvre first appeared in the pages of French Vogue in 1955. Bourdin created a career and work of psychological narratives, explicit treatment of the model, and visionary treatment of space, composition and color. "His pictures were charged with a kind of perverse sexuality that was remarkable for commercial photography at the time, although it is familiar enough now, in large part because Bourdin broke taboos." (Sharon Delano, The New Yorker, September 3, 2001) Influenced by the Surrealists, Bourdin's images are story panels that involve body parts, stylized violence, and death. A woman is stretched across tabletop while another woman seemingly hangs by her neck in the corner providing a macabre image meant for an advertisement. Or lipstick colored paint spills like blood from the mouth of a beautifully positioned woman who is face down on a sterile white floor. Bourdin's dedication to perfection and demanding work ethic pushed the boundaries of photography which led to revolutionary ad campaigns for Charles Jourdan shoes, a relationship which lasted for more than twenty-five years. Bourdin crafts images that are compelling yet ambiguous which offer only basic visual clues about his personal relationship with the images. On view will be classic images, as well as unknown works from Bourdin's personal archive, that venerated respect for Bourdin as an artist and visionary. Guy Bourdin's fashion photographs were never exhibited nor was his work published in a book during his lifetime.

Guy Bourdin