André Villers (; 10 October 1930 – 1 April 2016) was a French photographer and artist "best known for his pictures of Pablo Picasso in the south of France in the 1950s."

Life and work

Villers was born in Beaucourt. In 1947, following a bone tuberculosis, he was hospitalized at a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are ofte ...

Vallauris Vallauris (; oc, Valàuria) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is located in the metropolitan area, and is today effectively an extension of the town of Antibes, ...

where he stayed for eight years. During that period he was introduced to photography and started making in 1952 his first experiments in the darkroom, and pictures of Vallauris and its inhabitants. He met

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is ...

there in March 1953, who offered him his first camera, a Rolleiflex. Villers produced many portraits of the painter, and their relationship evolved into working together, making hundreds of images based on photographic experiments. In 1962 Heinz Berggruen edited a book, ''Diurnes'' (Daytime), based on 30 of these images accompanied by an original text by

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist movemen ...

. Since the 1950s, Villers shot many portraits of great artists, among them:

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, Alberto Magnelli,

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, Bram van Velde,

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, Pierre Soulages,

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, Michel Butor,

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, and Zao Wou Ki. In 1970 he began to experiment with a new way of creating his photography without a camera. He made the negatives himself from pieces of tracing paper. This series was exhibited and a book was released with a text by Michel Butor, ''Pliages d'Ombres'' (Folding Shadows). Since then, his personal photographic work was based upon experimentation with shadows and transparencies. He tried to use several emulsion techniques (solarisations, jets of developer). In the mid-1950s Villers began a set of carvings titled ''Ex-Photos'' that were exhibited in 1970 at the Loeb Gallery in Paris. In the 1980s he did an important set of paintings on cardboard, ''The Photographers'', exhibited in Paris, Tokyo and New York by the Yoshii Gallery. His friend

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devoted a book to it entitled ''A Secret Garden.'' In the 1980s,

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made an important set of paintings on photographs of Villers. Later,

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also worked with him. In 1984 he published his text ''Photobiographie'' recounting his life, his artistic process and his relationship with Picasso in a special issue of ''

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'' dedicated to him. Since the 2000s, he produced a set of paper cuts works. Significant collections of his photographic work can be found at Nicephorus-Niepce Museum in Chalon-sur-Saône and the Museum of Photography in Charleroi in Belgium. The city of

Mougins Mougins (; oc, Mogins ; la, Muginum ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes département in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 19,982. It is located on the heights of Cannes, in the ...

in the Alpes Maritimes honored Villers with the creation of a . The museum closed in 2018, and in 2021 the Mougins Center of Photography opened in its place. On July 14, 2006, André Villers became a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. He died on 1 April 2016.

Bibliography (extracts)

* 1959 ''Portraits de Picasso'', text by Jacques Prévert (Milan, Muggiani) * 1962 ''Diurnes'' in collaboration with Pablo Picasso, text by Jacques Prévert * 1977 ''Pliages d'Ombres'' with a text by Michel Butor * 1984 ''Cahiers du Sud'' Special issue dédicated to André Villers * 1986 ''Photobiographie'' Dole Museum, France * 1987 ''Picasso à Vallauris'' (Nice, Z'Editions) * 1990 ''Das Fotogramm in der Kunst des 20 Jahrhunderts'' Floris M. Neussus (Dumont Buchverlag) * 1992 ''L'œil Multiple'' Patrick Roegiers (La Manufacture) * 1992 ''A Secret Garden'' David Douglas Duncan (DDD Edition) * 1995 ''Picasso et la photographie'' Anne Baldassari (Réunion des Musées Nationaux) * 1997 ''The Dark Mirror'' Anne Baldassari (Réunion des Musées Nationaux) * 2000 ''André Villers, Rétrospective'' Patrick Roegiers (Théatre de la Photographie et de L'image, Nice) * 2001 ''André Villers, Lumière des Ombres'' Frédéric Ballester (La Malmaison, Cannes) * 2004 ''Picasso e Altri ritratti'' Ta Matete Gallery (Rome) * 2005 ''Le Regard Continu'' Patrick Roegiers (La Pierre d'Alun) * 2006 ''Guiding Light'' Michael Hoppen Gallery (London) * 2008 ''Album Villers'' Debora Ferrari and Luca Traini (Fabbrica Arte, Italy) * 2011 ''Villers et les Sapone, Photographies d'une amitié'' (Sapone Gallery, Nice) * 2012 ''Picasso, les Chemins du Sud'' Editions Skira Flammarion/Musée National Picasso Paris * 2012 ''André Villers, 60 ans de Photographies'' Editions Centre d'art Malmaison/Cannes * 2014 ''Picasso and the Camera'' John Richardson (Gagosian Gallery, New York) * 2016 ''Villers/Picasso'' (Gagosian Gallery, Geneva)

Filmography

* 1982 ''Le Photographe s'appelle André Villers'' Alain Bedos, 52 Mn * 1987 ''La Conférence des photographes'' Jean-Michel Vecchiet, 26 Mn * 1996 ''Picasso-Villers, Diurnes'' Jean-Michel Vecchiet, 26 Mn * 1998 ''Les 1001 Visages d'André Villers'' Jean-Michel Vecchiet, 52 Mn * 2010 ''Portrait d'André Villers'' Robert Matthey, 26mn * 2016 ''André Villers, A Lifetime in Images'' Marketa Tomanova, 62mn

References

External links

Official site
(in French)
Saga Magazine March 2008

(''The Age'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Villers Andre 1930 births 2016 deaths French photographers Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres People from the Territoire de Belfort