Untitled
Guy Bourdin
Description
Subject Matter:
This is a chromogenic reproduction of a plate from Sighs and Whispers. Bourdin was commissioned by Arthur Cohen, the vice president of Bloomingdale’s, to produce this photographic series for the store’s September 1976 lingerie catalog. The catalog quickly became a collector's item, due to the scarcity of Bourdin's work. He rarely chose to reproduce his photographs in contexts other than magazines and catalogs. This series exemplifies Bourdin's atypical and boundary-pushing approach to fashion photography. The series references but does not create narrative through the deployment of tableau and B-movie aesthetics. Bourdin employed formal devices such as cropped interior spaces, dramatic lighting, cast shadows, and often-overt references to sexuality, which were strategies that he utilized throughout his career. When this catalog was released in America, it was met with mixed reviews and controversy, much like his notorious work for Charles Jourdan Shoes in France in preceding decades.
Physical Description:
This work is a color photograph of three women in satin night wear reclining on two adjacent mattresses, which are fitted with satin sheets. The photo plane is divided by a door frame, so that the viewer can see into two living spaces. The door frame cuts through the center of the image, which would have been at the centerfold, a formal device frequently employed in Bourdin's work.
Usage Rights:
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.