Testino started buying paintings early on, picking them up at markets. I got into collecting contemporary art slowly, and that led to the collaborations with artists.’ And when you get to know them as I have done, their work becomes more poignant. ‘In a way I lived with the artists: I could feel their presence, their energy. ‘My house used to be hung salon-style, with floor-to-ceiling art,’ he continues. ‘What’s interesting is that you are maybe the first person to look at them as a group. ‘I do these collaborations all the time, they’re an ongoing thing,’ he tells me. Many of them were at the start of their careers at the time: Testino, it is clear, has an eye for more than just the images in his camera lens. Beginning with Keith Haring in 1987, he has worked with some of the greatest, cutting-edge contemporary artists in the world. But there’s another, more complex, thoughtful side to the charming Peruvian and his work.Ī knowledgeable and informed collector of contemporary art, he has for many years - since long before he became famous - been involved in unique collaborations with major artists. We might think we know all about Mario Testino, the super-famous photographer who can make a royal baby laugh into his camera one minute and coax a glowing Vogue cover out of the sulkiest celebrity the next.
The celebrated photographer talks to Meredith Etherington-Smith about his love of contemporary art and the series of unique collaborations it has inspired over the last 25 years How contemporary artists taught Mario Testino to trust himself
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