Guy Bourdin - Polaroids, Éditions Xavier Barral, 2015

A beautifully produced monograph dedicated to Guy Bourdin’s Polaroid photography, published by Éditions Xavier Barral in Paris and reissued in 2015. The volume brings together 98 colour Polaroids, the majority previously unpublished, offering a particularly intimate view into Bourdin’s unmistakable photographic universe. Removed from the polished finish of the fashion editorial, these immediate images reveal the experimentation, staging and visual instincts behind one of the most influential photographers of twentieth-century fashion. exb.fr Throughout the book, bodies are fragmented through radical cropping, figures appear within dark interiors and surreal environments, and glamour is repeatedly offset by unease, eroticism and ambiguity. These characteristics became central to Bourdin’s work for publications such as French Vogue, where his highly constructed and often provocative images helped redefine the possibilities of fashion photography. FAULT Magazine Bourdin had close links to Surrealism and was associated early in his career with Man Ray. In these Polaroids, that influence is particularly visible: apparently spontaneous snapshots become carefully charged compositions in which objects, bodies and environments suggest narratives that remain deliberately unresolved. The publication includes a text by renowned photographer and art director Oliviero Toscani, who reflects on Bourdin’s enduring influence and the singularity of his visual language. exb.fr Presented in a metallic silver hardcover with one of Bourdin’s Polaroids mounted prominently on the front, the book is an especially strong collectible object for admirers of fashion photography, Surrealism and twentieth-century visual culture.