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Which is sexier: refusal or admission? Going by the usual crass stereotypes (Germany vs. France), it stands to reason that our favorite fetishist Helmut Newton leaned toward the first and the exuberant Guy Bourdin went in for the second. It's natural to compare these two photographic masters: Both gained fame shooting for the pages of Vogue; both were fascinated by women to the point of obsession; and both swapped classic catalog poses for overt sexuality, revolutionizing fashion photography.
But until now Bourdin's photographs have had less public exposure. The exhibition Unseen: Guy Bourdin at Phillips de Pury & Company's London office (Victoria house, Bloomsbury Square, WC1) runs from November 3 to 24 with 41 never-before-seen images from his estate on sale. Bourdin received his photographic training in Senegal with the French air force in the late forties, and then went back to Paris to mingle with Man Ray. Later he shot fashion for the glossies and perfected his use of atmospheric tableau with his seventies ad campaign for the shoe company Charles Jourdan. Bourdin could be wicked with his jeering placement of body parts or kinky aestheticizing of violence, but his humor and supersaturated color suck the viewer in. In other words, where Newton may leave some cold, Bourdin gets everyone hot.
See a slideshow of Bourdin's images from the exhibition.
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