André Villers, French photographer, Died at 85

  Artists

André Villers was born on October 10, 1930, and died on April 1, 2016.

He was a French photographer and artist.

After he contracted a bone tuberculosis, he was hospitalized at a sanatorium in Vallauris where he stayed for eight years, in 1947.

In that time, Andre was introduced to photography and started making in 1952 his first experiments in dark room and pictures of Vallauris and its inhabitants.

Villers met there Pablo Picasso in March 1953, who offered him his first camera Rolleiflex.

André Villers produced many portraits of the painter, and their relationship evolved into the realization of a work together, hundreds of images based on photographic experiments.

Heinz Berggruen edited a book, Diurnes (Daytime), in 1962, based on 30 of these images accompanied by an original text of Jacques Prévert.

From the 1950s, Villers has shot many portraits of great artists, among them: Fernand Léger, Alexander Calder, Jacques Prévert, Alberto Magnelli, Jean Arp, Le Corbusier, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Jean Cocteau, Bram van Velde, César Baldaccini, Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages, Antoni Clavé, Antoni Tàpies, Francis Ponge, Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Léo Ferré, Michel Butor, Ben Vautier, Henri Dutilleux, Zao Wou Ki …

He also published his text Photobiographie recounting his life, in 1984, his artistic process and his relationship with Picasso in a special issue of Les Cahiers du Sud dedicated to him.

His most 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.

Also, to his achievements, The city of Mougins in the Alpes Maritimes has honored this photographer with the creation of a Museum of Photography bearing his name.

From July 14, 2006, André has been a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

André Villers André Villersasse3d away at 85 yrs old.