André Villers, who has died aged 85, was a photographer best known for his pictures of Pablo Picasso in the south of France in the 1950s.
Villers photographed numerous artists – including Joan Miró, Marc Chagall and Salvador Dalí – throughout his career, but it was his collaboration with Picasso which was the most productive. The pair met in 1953 on a street in Vallauris on the Cote d’Azur. Villers had been suffering for several years from tuberculosis and was staying at a sanatorium in the town, which is situated between Cannes and Antibes. Villers was subsequently invited to Villa la Galloise, Picasso’s rambling house on Chemin du Fournas, and later to Villa La Californie overlooking the bay of Cannes. “Every room Picasso moved into became another studio and got taken over,” Villers recalled.
André Villers, born October 10 1930, died April 1 2016
