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PUBLISHER
Editions Xavier Barral

BOOK FORMAT
Hardcover, 6.75 x 9.75 in. / 128 pgs / 98 color.

PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date
Active

DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: SPRING 2010 p. 178   

PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9782915173567 TRADE
List Price: $49.95 CAD $67.50

AVAILABILITY
Out of stock

TERRITORY
NA LA ASIA AU/NZ AFR ME

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EDITIONS XAVIER BARRAL

Guy Bourdin: Polaroids

Text by Oliviero Toscani.

Guy Bourdin: Polaroids

"Timeless images from one of the first fashion provocateurs whose singular way of seeing influenced contemporary photography and continues to do so.” –Emotion Daily

One of the Polaroid's acknowledged masters, Guy Bourdin (1928-1991) brought to the medium an uncanny ability to combine the snapshot feel with a strong patina of glamour, and of course plenty of sexiness. A protégé of Man Ray, and best known today for his controversial fashion photography, Bourdin like his teacher often brought an edge of menace or discomfort to his eroticism, with surrealistic props and implied narratives. Like the Surrealists, he often devised ways to bisect the female form, usually by cropping out above the waist; all these traits of Bourdin's fashion photography are to be found here, in this selection of 98 Polaroids, most of which have never previously been published. Ranging in formality from casual seaside erotica to darkened interiors with disembodied legs and arms poking into the frame, these images step outside the safety of the fashion shoot, conjuring a real-life realm steeped in an ominous sexuality.

Above: A spread from 'Guy Bourdin: Polaroids.'

PRAISE AND REVIEWS

Vanity Fair

Rachel Tashjian

Guy Bourdin’s photographs are a study in the perverse contradictions that make modern fashion so appealing: threatening but intriguing, haunting but chic. They're disturbing, but you’re buying what he’s selling.

GQ

Krista Prestek

The color photos are lushly saturated in the way that only this type of film offers, while the black & whites are gauzy, almost ghostly. And they’re all reproduced at actual size as if the snapshots are sitting on the page. It’s a powerful collection from one of Polaroid’s true masters.

Emotion Daily

timeless images from one of the first fashion provocateurs whose singular way of seeing influenced contemporary photography, and continues to do so…. Printing is excellent. The slight spot varnish on the photographs and the minimalist layout reinforce the Polaroid sensation.

New York Magazine

Stephanie Eckardt

Paved the way for a new type of fashion photography.

Guy Bourdin: Polaroids

STATUS: Out of stock

Temporarily out of stock pending additional inventory.

FROM THE ARTBOOK BLOG

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 1/26/2016

BACK IN STOCK! Guy Bourdin: Polaroids

BACK IN STOCK! Guy Bourdin: Polaroids

Xavier Barral's beautifully-produced, silver clothbound collection of the late French photographer Guy Bourdin's gritty yet glamorous Polaroids is a book for the dark side of every fashion photographer's bookshelf. Erotic, mysterious, surreal, and so perfectly Paris-in-the-70s, these photographs capture fantasies and fetishes that only grow more powerful over time. "One is always marvelously surprised when one has the chance to look at a photograph by Guy Bourdin," photographer Oliviero Toscani writes. "Each of his images is a well of meaning and emotions; when regarding his photographs one has the particular sensation of entering a world that is fantastic, human, dreamlike, eccentric, absurd, metaphysical and based in a unique sensibility." continue to blog


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Guy Bourdin: Polaroids

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ISBN: 9782915173567
USD $49.95
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Pub Date: 6/30/2010
Active | Out of stock