©Fernando Delgado Photography. All Rights Reserved.
"Exhibit A - Guy Bourdin"
OCTOBER 2001 - OCTOBER 1016
15 years ago Exhibit A - Guy Bourdin was published by Bulfinch Press in The United States, Great Britain and France. I was co-author, curator and designer of this landmark volume.
Much earlier in the 80s, I was introduced to the master via the pages of Vogue Paris and the revolutionary advertising for Charles Jourdan shoes. I fell in love.
Bourdin died in 1991 after a long and illustrious photography career that dates back to 1955. He seldom printed, exhibited or published his work, beyond the magazine page. By his own design, his death was the culmination of a masterfully orchestrated vanishing act.
Samuel Bourdin (his son) and I connected in the late 90s and a long and lasting friendship began. We decided to do the book that Bourdin would have wanted but was afraid to pursue. I spent a summer in Paris going through 54 boxes of material retrieved from storage after the estate was settled. Several months were also spent at the FIT Library crafting his chronology and curating the 100 images that we ultimately selected, for publication. I brought the idea to Carol Judy Leslie and her publishing team at Bulfinch... and the rest is history.
I am honored to have been part of this dream project. I am proud that it celebrates Guy Bourdin's genius and secures his rightful place in the history of the visual arts.
Salut Monsieur Bourdin!