Art Collection of Late Photographer François Meyer Heads to Auction

Pablo Picasso’s Tete de Jeune Homme barbu, 1967, is estimated to fetch a price of 350,000 to 450,000 at the Collection Francois Meyer: A Colourful Passion auction next month. Sotheby’s

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The late François Meyer photographed many of the most popular artists of his time, including Americans Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Helen Frankenthaler; the Ukrainian-French painter Sonia Delaunay; and Colombia’s Fernando Botero.

Meyer, who died last year at age 69, was not only a collector of artists’ images, but also of their art. Now 160 works belonging to the photographer are headed to auction, according to Sotheby’s Paris, which is handling the sale. 

The auction, dubbed Collection François Meyer: A Colourful Passion, will go under the hammer on Sept. 26. It is set to include works by Delaunay, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, and Portuguese abstract painter Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, among many others. There are also several Kachina Dolls, figures carved by indigenous people of the U.S. and collected by Meyer during his many visits there. 

Highlights of the auction include Picasso’s Tête de Jeune Homme barbu, 1967, which has the highest estimate of the pieces in the sale, €350,000 to €450,000 (US$378,570 to US$486,735), according to Sotheby’s. The title translates to “head of a young bearded man,” and so it is: The painting on tan paper depicts a face with a beard of looping white lines. 

Delaunay’s Projet pour vitraux, 1967—or “project for stained glass”—is set to fetch between €200,000 and €300,000. A colorful vertical piece in three blocks, it has the shape of a cathedral window. 

“The wonderful thing about my husband was his incredible eye to capture the right portrait at the right moment, feeling and sharing that connection with the artist,” Yvonne Meyer, his wife, said in a statement. “The same perception was reflected in his choices as a collector—it was love at first sight. His advice to any art lover was to ‘let your heart guide you.’”

Meyer, a native of Switzerland, moved to New York in the 1970s, when he was 21. He became friends with gallerist Leo Castelli, who introduced Meyer to artists throughout New York. “I’m still the naïve, awestruck young man I was in the 1970s,” Meyer wrote in his 2014 photography book, Portraits D’Artistes. “I never set out looking for glory, I just want to meet great people and take great photos.”

The collection will be exhibited to the public in Sotheby’s Paris galleries from Sept. 22 to 25, according to the auction house. A number of Meyer’s photographs—originally exhibited in 2000 in Zurich as part of a show of his work, The Artist’s Eye—will be showcased alongside the auction items. 

“It was a delight to witness [Meyer’s] process of discovery, as he would connect to new artists and artworks, always with an open and curious mind,” Caroline Lang, chairman of Sotheby’s Switzerland, said in a statement. “Through his encounters and travels, he made it his mission to immortalize the greatest artists of his time. Having remained behind the camera lens for most of his life, it is a pleasure to now turn the spotlight onto François’ world of collecting and pay tribute to his unique eye.”