The photographic Archives of J.F. Jonvelle, the Photographer who brought Women’s Beauty to Light, to be Auctioned off

The entire body of work of Jean-François Jonvelle (1943-2002), fashion photographer from the 1970s to the 2000s and creator of the infamous “The bottom comes off” advertising campaign will be sold on Sunday, June 8, by Rouillac Auctioneers during their 37th Garden Party to be held at Chateau de Villandry.

Starting his carreer as assistant to photographer Richard Avedon when he was in his 20s, Jean-François Jonvelle (Cavaillon, 1943 – Paris 2002) became the poet photographer of fashion. From the 1970s until his 2002 passing, he worked for all the major magazines and took portrait pictures of the most famous models and leading figures of the time: Nathalie Baye, Emmanuelle Béart, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Johnny Hallyday, Lambert Wilson (naked), among many others. He kept on highlighting women’s beauty both in the press and in his numerous books. When he suddenly died, the world of fashion and photography was deeply moved.

In 1981, Jean-François Jonvelle won international attention thanks to his Avenir Publicité advertising campaign: “On September 2nd, the top comes off”, “On September 4th, the bottom comes off” - “Avenir, the billposter that keeps its promises”. The story of this daring advertising stunt was explained in PHOTO Magazine #170 dated November 1981 and illustrated with photographs of naked model Myriam Szabo.

Actors and models photographed by Jean-François Jonvelle

Women

Aure Atika, Sabine Azéma, Nathalie Baye, Emmanuelle Béart, Sandrine Bonnaire, Josiane Balasko, Christine Boisson, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Clotilde Courau, Béatrice Dalle, Arielle Dombasle, Cécile de France, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marie Gillain, Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Jacob, Agnès Jaoui, Valérie Kaprisky, Estelle Lefebure Hallyday, Seiko Matsuda, Myriam Szabo (J’enlève le haut, J’enlève le bas), Helena Noguerra, Isabelle Pasco, Marie-José Pérec, Paloma Picasso, Emmanuelle Seigner, Tina Sportolaro, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Karin Viard, Zabou…

Men

Gérard Depardieu, Dreyfus, Bernard Giraudeau (nu), Johnny Hallyday, Michel Piccoli, Jeanloup Sieff, Lambert Wilson (nu)…
Themes: Portraits, Looks, Lingerie, Boudoir, Nudes, Adverts.

Bibliography

· Celles que j’aime, 1983, Éditions Filipacchi, France
· Jonvelle Bis, 1989, Éditions de La Martinière, France and Japanese Publisher
· Jonvelle à Venise, 1986, Éditions du Chêne, France
· Jonvelle à Marrakech, 1986, Éditions du Chêne, France
· À la Parisienne, 1992, for Nice Claup, Japan
· Avril Mai Juin, 1994, Éditions de La Martinière (new cover) and Folio, France
· Fou d'Elles, 1996, Éditions de La Martinière, France
· Seiko Matsuda in Paris, 1997, Suntex Publications (only in Japon)
· Jonvelle(s), 1998, Ipso Facto Publisher NYC, bilingual (English- French)
· Balcons, 1999, Ipso Facto Publisher NYC, bilingual (English- French), in collaboration with Nathalie Garçon
· Posthumous Publications:
o Jonvelle, 2006, Box of 15 prints (limited edition of 100 + 10 out of circulation boxes), C.C. Édition
o Jonvelle: les 100 plus belles photos, 2011, Éditions Gourcuff Gradenigo, 208 pages.

Tribute and website

PHOTO Magazine #387 dated March 2002, featuring a picture of actress Emmanuelle Seigner on its cover, contained a 24-pages remarkable summary of Jean-François Jonvelle’s career and included many tokens of friendship to the deceased photographer.
Former assistant Youri Zakovitch founded www.jonvelle.com in 2005, a website outlining the artist’s poetic approach and sensibility via selected works.

The photographer’s entire body of work

This collection includes negatives, contact sheets, exhibition and proof prints, portraits and self-portraits of the artist, copyright agreement signed by the models, pressbooks, and the moving diary of his final days, as well as all copyrights related to his work.
The hundreds of thousands of negatives, organized in chronological photo shoot order and protected in envelopes stored in 44 boxes practically cover the entirety of the photographer’s career. One of the boxes called “Jonvelle Bis” contains the negatives used for the Jonvelle Bis book (Nathan Ed., 1991). Tens of thousands of contact sheets are kept in Ilford and Kodak boxes as well as in Labo Photo Pro Publimod’photo envelopes and sorted by subject or model name (for instance “Balcons Choix” for the 1999 “Elles: Cloé, Mikli, Vartan, Seiko” book, and so on. The notes on the boxes and the comparison with the negatives show that this collection covers the photographer’s career thoroughly.

Notes on the Jonvelle Collection: The Ilford, Kodak or Agfa boxes are medium sized (32 x 25); each contains 50 to 100 contact sheets. Almost all 30x24 cm positive contact sheets show 36 images. Black & white as well as color negatives from 135 (24x36) films show 36 images as well.

Estimate: 50,000-100,000€.