The Stage 32 Videos: André Villers

André Villers, A Lifetime in Images (2016) A documentary film written and directed by Marketa Tomanova Produced by Martin Matiasek, Prokop Toman and Marketa Tomanova When he was 21, André discovered photography at the sanatorium in Vallauris, where he was hospitalized for several years, suffering from bone tuberculosis. Two years later, André befriends Pablo Picasso, who will buy the young photographer his very first own Rolleiflex camera. The two will later work together on a poetic cut-out album called ‘Diurnes’. Through Picasso, the young photographer meets some of the greatest artists of the 20th century. André has photographed Chagall, Dali, Miró, Buñuel, Fellini, Brassaï, Cocteau, Prévert, Gainsbourg, Le Corbusier, Léger, Picasso himself of course, and many more. But he has never boasted about it. Throughout his life, André Villers kept a low profile, even as his crisp black & white portraits became known worldwide. In the wake of André Villers' passing on April 1st, 2016, many more people around the world are finally discovering and appreciating his work.