A pleasant surprise!

Pour Liisa amitié A. Villers

After a decade, there was a surprise waiting for me; a stack of photographs from the last century.

In 1995 I took part in a group exhibition called Estradi organized by Galerie Kaj Forsblom in Helsinki. On the opening day, an older man came to introduce himself and asked if he would photograph me in front of my paintings displayed at the exhibition. He explained that he had photographed several artists before. Since I often feel embarrassed when attention is directed at me and feel especially self-conscious when being photographed, I had to consider the proposal for a while but ended up accepting the offer. I still remember vividly how unsure I was when placed to be photographed. We agreed that he would send prints to me later. After a while I had already forgotten about the incident. I thought that the negatives might had been gotten buried in his studio and the whole thing had been forgotten.

A few weeks ago, Kaj Forsblom called me and started the call by saying: “Liisa, you will not believe what I’m about to tell you. Do you remember when André Villers photographed you 22 years ago? A stack of prints is at the gallery now. Come and get it.” The prints had arrived to Helsinki already once in 1995 but had been reverted to the sender. The recipient had not been reached. Now, after several years, the son of André Villers had found the photographs from the studio of his deceased father and had contacted Galerie Forsblom.

Now I have eight black and white prints, some of them signed by André Villers as a proof of an occasion where two strangers met for a moment. Among the photographs were a charming greeting and an acknowledgement from 1995.

In our home, there is a picture of Picasso also photographed by André Villers. In the photograph Picasso is standing in a doorway stretching his arm towards the viewer. Also, a kind of invitation to interaction. In addition to the several pictures taken of Picasso, Vallers had also photographed Corbusier, Fernard Leger and Dali to name a few. And since then, also me!