Guy Bourdin

Guy Bourdin was a French photographer whose fashion images combined elaborate staging, intense colour and unsettling narrative suggestions. He also painted and drew, and his early photography reflected an interest in Surrealism. Man Ray wrote the introduction to his first photographic exhibition in 1952.

Bourdin contributed to French Vogue from 1955 into the 1980s. His photographs often use unusual cropping, shadows and carefully constructed settings to draw attention beyond the clothes or products being advertised. His work is held by institutions including the V&A, MoMA and the Getty.