Born 1928 in Paris, French artist and Fashion photographer Guy Bourdin was known for his provocative images. From 1955, he worked mostly with Vogue as well as other publications including Harper's Bazaar, and shot ad campaigns for Chanel, Charles Jourdan, Pentax and Bloomingdale's.

Bourdin's work is collected by important institutions including Tate in London, MoMA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Getty Museum. The first retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 2003, and then toured the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, and the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris. The Tate is permanently exhibiting a part of its collection (one of the largest) with works made between 1950 and 1955.

Bourdin is considered as one of the best known photographers of fashion and advertising of the second half of the 20th century. He set the stage for a new kind of fashion photography. “While conventional fashion images make beauty and clothing their central elements, Bourdin’s photographs offer a radical alternative.”

Bourdin died of cancer in 1991 at the age of 62.

These stunning color pics are part of his work that Guy Bourdin took female model for various magazines in the 1970s.