Mario Testino Sells 400 Works To Benefit Peru's Museo Mate & Promote Peruvian Artists

Jackie Hoffmann, Iliana Lolas, Karen Miter, Naomi Campbell and Mario Testino at the MATE Museum

Master photographer Mario Testino, known for his glam shots of supermodels and fashion editorials for the world's leading magazines. Over the years, Testino has become a buyer of fine art, with 500 works from his collection going to auction this fall. The sale, slated for September 13-14 in London, will benefit the Museo Mate (Museo Mario Testino) in Lima, Peru, a nonprofit that aims to bring Peruvian artists to world attention. The sale is expected to raise in excess of $10 million.

Testino is a fan of beauty, talking about his first photography purchase in the 1980s, a picture of actor Vivien Leigh by the surrealist photographer Angus McBean. 

"Beauty today is considered a bit banal and a bit empty and a bit superficial. In the art world you probably can't mention that word, because it's not interesting or not deep enough. But I'm just always amazed by it," the BBC quotes the famous photographer. 

Prior to the Sotheby's sale, Testino will take over Sotheby's London galleries to curate an exhibition featuring a "series of talks by friends and collaborators from the worlds of fashion and photography. "

The collection represents artists of 45 nationalities, including Richard Prince and Cindy Sherman. The collection is particularly rich in Latin American art, with works by the Argentine artists Pablo Bronstein and Amalia Pica, the Colombian Oscar Murillo and, not surprisingly, Peruvian artists such as William Cordova.

Testino has accumulated more than 1000 works without ever selling a piece. The decision to sell almost half the collection has been 'hard'. 

"It's sad to part," he says. "I've never sold anything. I've been too attached to my collection."

But he says: "I have a mission."

"I'm selling because I have a unique opportunity to change something in the country I come from," he says.

Testino addes that he can't maintain the museum "with the money I have. I can't carry on worrying every month if I have the money or not".

He says "getting sponsors today is quite difficult" so he wants to create an endowment to ensure the centre has financial security in the future.