He has turned his lens on some of the most beautiful people in the world, from Kate Moss and Princess Diana to David Bowie and Angelina Jolie.
But now the paintings and photographs that have hung on the walls of Mario Testino’s house and studio – and shaped his artistic vision since the 1980s – are to be auctioned.
Four hundred works by artists such as Wolfgang Tillmans, Gilbert & George, Sterling Ruby and Nan Goldin, which Testino has collected for three decades, are to be sold to raise money for Museo Mate, the art gallery the fashion photographer set up in his native Lima.
The collection offers an insight into the works that Testino chose to surround himself with as he started out as a photographer when he arrived in London in 1976 with a limited knowledge of art.
Testino, 62, describes the collection as a “a document of my time, of my eye, of the people I believe in”. It also appears to reflect of the globetrotting nature of his career, with artists from across 45 different countries represented. Testino said he would make it his mission, whenever he traveled, to visit artists, studios and galleries to hunt out creativity in any form that caught his eye. He added that beauty had driven much of what he was drawn to buying, as well as works that changed the way he saw the world.
“In the art world you probably can’t mention that word [beauty], because it’s not interesting or not deep enough,” said Testino. “But I’m just always amazed by it.”
The first picture that he bought, which is included in the sale, was a portrait of the actor Vivien Leigh by the surrealist photographer Angus McBean.
Testino’s collection boasts works from some of the biggest names in contemporary art, a testament not to deep pockets but to him buying works by artists such as Richard Prince, Tillmans and Ruby early in their careers, before they became commercially sought after.
The work expected to fetch the highest price is Ruby’s SP114, a painting inspired by graffiti in Los Angeles. It estimated to sell for between £600,000 and £800,000.
“I was so amazed that someone could be so random in his choice of materials, in his proportions, in his work, but that it still had such a power to draw me to it,” said Testino.
The photographer has also collaborated with several of those he collected, including Cecily Brown, Paul McCarthy and Urs Fischer.
Speaking about another key lot, Prince’s 1993 photograph Untitled (Girlfriend), which depicts a naked woman splayed out suggestively on a motorcycle, Testino said: “Richard Prince is somebody who has influenced me a lot. The idea of appropriation for me was a very new thing, because I’ve always been quite respectful about other people’s property, but what I’ve realised is that he made us look at things that we weren’t looking at properly and challenging us to look at things differently.”
Oliver Barker of the auction house Sotheby’s described it as a “really vibrant collection”. He added: “It’s one that is punctuated with inspirational works but equally inspirational friendships with the artists who created them as well, so that’s the special element for me. His eye as a collector is as dynamic and ultimately natural as it is with him as a photographer.”
Testino hung the works in his west London studio as well as his homes in London and Los Angeles.
“Look at the Wolfgang Tillmans photographs, some of them can be very edgy but also exquisitely beautiful, and there are elements of that which have clearly seeped into Testino’s work,” said Barker.
While Testino admitted it was heartbreaking to part with many of these images, he said his determination to develop Museo Mate was now his priority. He is hoping the auction will raise £8m towards the project, which he set up in 2012 as a space to bring Peruvian artists and culture to worldwide attention.
