The entire oeuvre of photographer Jean-François Jonvelle will be auctioned this weekend.
No institution, foundation, or museum has yet come forward to acquire these tens of thousands of negatives and contact sheets.
The starting bid will start at €50,000.
Fortunately, and thankfully, auctioneer Aymeric Rouillac and expert Yves di Maria are not butchers and have refused to divide the collection into various lots.
Jean-François was a friend. We published him a dozen times at PHOTO, and his 1981 advertising campaign, “Myriam j’enleve le haut,” was one of the magazine’s biggest stories and one of its largest print runs.
Jonjon, as we all called him, best represents the tender, loving, and elegant eroticism of the 1970s and 1980s.
Of course, there are almost no prints; everything has been looted, sold, and dispersed, but the essentials remain: the negatives and contact sheets.
Let’s hope they don’t end up in the hands of grocery shopkeepers.
Jean-Jacques Naudet
Jean-François Jonvelle (French, 1943-2002)
Photographer’s Works Collection
Maison Rouillac
Monday, June 9, starting at 2 p.m.
Lot 320
Starting bid: €50,000
https://drouot.com/fr/l/29328932-jean-francois-jonvelle-francais-1943-2002-fonds-de-loeuvre
Auction at the Château de Villandry
3, rue Principale – 37510 Villandry
