Always eager to endorse our favourite art-world individuals, Guy Bourdin - in all his posthumous glory - has clocked up a fair few W* column inches of late. A few months ago we featured Galleria Carla Sozzani's Unseen exhibition in Milan, and this month we wait in anticipation for Bourdin's latest outing in London's East End.
Curated by The Wapping Project in collaboration with art auctioneers Phillips de Pury - the London-based gallerists have uncovered 32 previously unexhibited photographs from Bourdin's oeuvre for their Unseen show.
See more of Guy Bourdin's uncovered photographs from the show
Refreshingly unassuming, Bourdin made little, or no, effort to formally exhibit any photographs during his career. Adopting the pages of glossy magazines as his milieu, Bourdin's surrealist narratives and sexed-up sets transcend the page-confined precincts of his photographs.
With several of his double-page-spreads from 1980's era French Vogue on shown, Bourdin's improbably leggy muse - model Nicolle Myer (who later went on to write Bourdin's biography) - is a regular feature. Both objectified and animated, Bourdin's subjects assume an eerily malleable, doll-like flawlessness.
As an artistic rule, we are of the school that when it comes to never-before-seen - the for-a-good-reason tagline should probably follow. Guy Bourdin's latest airing however, offers followers and fledglings alike the chance to view some of his finest photographic work - and what's more, it can all be enjoyed against the fittingly offbeat backdrop of Wapping Hydraulic Power Station.
ADDRESS
The Wapping Project
Wapping Hydraulic Power Station
Wapping Wall
London E1W 3SG
-
Top 10 architecture moments of 2025Architecture & environment director Ellie Stathaki picks the top 10 architecture moments of 2025, to recount, remember and reassess
-
Step inside this perfectly pitched stone cottage in the Scottish HighlandsA stone cottage transformed by award-winning Glasgow-based practice Loader Monteith reimagines an old dwelling near Inverness into a cosy contemporary home
-
Year in Review: we’re always after innovations that interest us – here are ten of 2025’s bestWe present ten pieces of tech that broke the mould in some way, from fresh takes on guitar design, new uses for old equipment and the world’s most retro smartwatch
