Tracing Guy Bourdin’s secret nature obsession

In the world of fashion photography, there are few names as renowned as that of Guy Bourdin. The French image-maker, best known for his hyper-saturated, sexually-charged fashion photography, is currently being honoured in an exhibition entitled Avant-Garde at the Fotografiska Museet in Stockholm. To coincide with the retrospective, publishing house Jane & Jeremy is collaborating with the Guy Bourdin Estate to publish Nature Magique, a limited-edition book of which only 100 handmade copies will be released.

In contrast to the controversial pictures which established Bourdin’s reputation as a provocateur, (his work often included women lying prone, occasionally appearing injured or worse), Nature Magique looks instead to nature and its influence in his work. The book contains 33 images in total, some of which are taken from the archives of publications such as Vogue Paris and others which have, until now, remained unpublished. Each copy of the book also comes with a print stamped and numbered the Guy Bourdin Estate, making it a covetable memento of one of fashion’s favourite pioneers.