François-Marie Banier
Encyclopedia
François-Marie Banier (born 27 June 1947) is a French novelist, playwright
, artist
, actor
and photographer. He is particularly known for his photographs of celebrities and other public figures and for his friendships with members of high society.
, he said that he had been “completely incomprehensible to [his] parents”. He also said that his father had beat him, and his mother had an unerring ability to avoid answering questions.
Despite his modest background, from an early age he was a precocious and hyperactive talent, who was able to develop friendships with some of Paris’ wealthiest arts patrons and artists. At the age of 16, he met Salvador Dalí
, who would send his car to bring Mr Banier to his suite at the Hotel Meurice to discuss art. At the age of 19, he befriended the wealthy heiress and patron of the arts Marie-Laure de Noailles
who was then 64.
He published his first novel, Les Résidences secondaires ou la Vie distraite (Second Homes or Distracted Life), at the age of 22. Around the same time, a well-known Parisian designer and antique dealer Madeleine Castaing
(who was 75 at the time) helped him launch a career in photography by purchasing a dozen of his photographs for 70,000 francs.
Over the years, Mr Banier befriended many well-known public figures and celebrities, including Pablo Picasso
, Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin
, Françoise Sagan
, Samuel Beckett
, Vladimir Horowitz
, Louis Aragon
, François Mitterrand
, Kate Moss
, Mick Jagger
and Princess Caroline of Monaco. He is also a good friend of Johnny Depp
and his wife Vanessa Paradis
, who met at his home in the south of France. Mr Banier is godfather of their daughter, Lily-Rose.
In the 1970s, Mr Banier shared a studio with designer Jacques Grange
on rue Servandoni near Luxembourg Gardens. Over the years, he acquired his own studio on rue Servandoni and gradually combined it with adjacent apartments until he was able to open a second entrance on rue de Vaugirard. He now shares these quarters with actor Pascal Greggory
and his nephew Martin d’Orgeval. Mr Banier also owns a home in Sommières
, France.
and Federico Fellini
for the French magazine Egoiste. Ms Bettancourt is one of the principal shareholder
s of L'Oréal
and one of the wealthiest persons in the world with an estimated fortune of US$20 billion. Over the ensuing years, Mr Banier and Ms Bettencourt became friends and she became his chief benefactor, bestowing gifts upon him estimated to be worth as much as €1.3 billion. These gifts include, amongst other things, a life insurance policy worth €253 million in 2003, another life insurance policy worth €262 million in 2006, 11 works of art in 2001 valued at €20 million, including paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian
, Delaunay
and Léger
and a photograph by surrealist Man Ray
and cash. The life insurance policies were allegedly signed over to Mr Banier after Ms Bettencourt was recovering from two hospital stays in 2003 and 2006.
In December 2007, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers
, the daughter of Ms Bettencourt, lodged a criminal complaint against Mr Banier, accusing him of abus de faiblesse (or the exploitation of a physical or psychological weakness for personal gain) over Ms Bettencourt. As a result of her complaint, the Brigade Financière, the financial investigative arm of the French national police, opened in investigation and, after interviewing members of Ms Bettencourt’s staff, determined to present the case to a court in Nanterre
for trial in September 2009. In December 2009, the court delayed ruling on the case until April 2010 (later extended until July 2010) pending the results of a medical examination of Ms Bettencourt’s mental state. However, Ms Bettencourt refused to submit to these examinations.
In July 2010, the trial was adjourned again until autumn 2010, at the earliest, after details of tape recordings made by Ms Bettencourt’s butler became public. The tapes allegedly reveal that Ms Bettencourt had made Mr Banier her “sole heir” (excluding the L'Oréal shares which make up the bulk of Ms Bettencourt’s estate and which have already been signed over to her daughter and two grandsons). Bettencourt has since removed Banier from her will.
Plays
Photography
Art exhibitions
Filmography (actor)
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and photographer. He is particularly known for his photographs of celebrities and other public figures and for his friendships with members of high society.
Life and career
Banier was born in Paris, France. He grew up in a middle-class family in the 16th arrondissement of Paris but became estranged from his parents as a teenager. In an interview with Paris MatchParis Match
Paris Match is a French weekly magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. It was founded in 1949 by the industrialist Jean Prouvost....
, he said that he had been “completely incomprehensible to [his] parents”. He also said that his father had beat him, and his mother had an unerring ability to avoid answering questions.
Despite his modest background, from an early age he was a precocious and hyperactive talent, who was able to develop friendships with some of Paris’ wealthiest arts patrons and artists. At the age of 16, he met Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, who would send his car to bring Mr Banier to his suite at the Hotel Meurice to discuss art. At the age of 19, he befriended the wealthy heiress and patron of the arts Marie-Laure de Noailles
Marie-Laure de Noailles
Marie-Laure de Noailles, Vicomtesse de Noailles , was one of the 20th century's most daring and influential patrons of the arts, noted for her associations with Salvador Dalí, Balthus, Jean Cocteau, Man Ray, Luis Buñuel, Francis Poulenc, Jean Hugo, Jean-Michel Frank and others as well as her...
who was then 64.
He published his first novel, Les Résidences secondaires ou la Vie distraite (Second Homes or Distracted Life), at the age of 22. Around the same time, a well-known Parisian designer and antique dealer Madeleine Castaing
Madeleine Castaing
Madeleine Castaing was a French antique dealer and interior designer of international renown. She was the friend and the sponsor of many artists, including Soutine, who made her portrait in 1928...
(who was 75 at the time) helped him launch a career in photography by purchasing a dozen of his photographs for 70,000 francs.
Over the years, Mr Banier befriended many well-known public figures and celebrities, including Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin
Pierre Cardin
Pierre Cardin Cardin was known for his avant-garde style and his Space Age designs. He prefers geometric shapes and motifs, often ignoring the female form. He advanced into unisex fashions, sometimes experimental, and not always practical...
, Françoise Sagan
Françoise Sagan
Françoise Sagan – real name Françoise Quoirez – was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Hailed as "a charming little monster" by François Mauriac on the front page of Le Figaro, Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois...
, Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
, Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was a Russian-American classical virtuoso pianist and minor composer. His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Life and early...
, Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon , was a French poet, novelist and editor, a long-time member of the Communist Party and a member of the Académie Goncourt.- Early life :...
, François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, Kate Moss
Kate Moss
Kate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...
, Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
and Princess Caroline of Monaco. He is also a good friend of Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
and his wife Vanessa Paradis
Vanessa Paradis
Vanessa Chantal Paradis is a French singer, model and actress. She became a child star at 14 with the worldwide success of her single "Joe le taxi"...
, who met at his home in the south of France. Mr Banier is godfather of their daughter, Lily-Rose.
In the 1970s, Mr Banier shared a studio with designer Jacques Grange
Jacques Grange
-Biography :After completing his training at the École Boulle and the École Camondo, Jacques Grange made a career as a decorator in France and abroad from the 1970s. His main customers included Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, for whom he decorated the "Château Gabriel", in Benerville-sur-Mer,...
on rue Servandoni near Luxembourg Gardens. Over the years, he acquired his own studio on rue Servandoni and gradually combined it with adjacent apartments until he was able to open a second entrance on rue de Vaugirard. He now shares these quarters with actor Pascal Greggory
Pascal Greggory
-Filmography:* Les Soeurs Brontë by André Téchiné* Catherine de Heilbronn by Éric Rohmer* Pauline à la plage by Éric Rohmer* Le trio en si bémol by Éric Rohmer...
and his nephew Martin d’Orgeval. Mr Banier also owns a home in Sommières
Sommières
Sommières is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.It lies from Nîmes, from Montpellier.-Geography:Sommières is to the south of the garrigues and on the edge of the Vaunage, a wine growing region. It straddles the River Vidourle.-History:...
, France.
Relationship with Liliane Bettencourt
In 1987, he was commissioned to photograph Liliane BettencourtLiliane Bettencourt
Liliane Bettencourt is a French heiress, socialite, businesswoman and philanthropist. She is one of the principal shareholders of L'Oréal and, with a fortune estimated at US$23.5 billion, is one of the wealthiest people in the world.-Biography:...
and Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
for the French magazine Egoiste. Ms Bettancourt is one of the principal shareholder
Shareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
s of L'Oréal
L'Oréal
The L'Oréal Group is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company. With its registered office in Paris and head office in the Paris suburb of Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France, it has developed activities in the field of cosmetics...
and one of the wealthiest persons in the world with an estimated fortune of US$20 billion. Over the ensuing years, Mr Banier and Ms Bettencourt became friends and she became his chief benefactor, bestowing gifts upon him estimated to be worth as much as €1.3 billion. These gifts include, amongst other things, a life insurance policy worth €253 million in 2003, another life insurance policy worth €262 million in 2006, 11 works of art in 2001 valued at €20 million, including paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian
Mondrian
Mondrian may refer to:* Piet Mondrian , artist* The Mondrian, a tower in the Cityplace neighborhood of Oak Lawn, Dallas, Texas, named for the artist* Mondrian Hotel, a 1959 hotel in Los Angeles...
, Delaunay
Delaunay
-Arts:* Catherine Delaunay , French jazz clarinet player and composer* Charles Delaunay , French author and jazz expert* Elie Delaunay , French painter* Louis Arsene Delaunay , French actor...
and Léger
Léger
Léger is a surname, and may refer to:* Alexis Leger – French poet and diplomat* Fernand Léger – French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker* Jules Léger – Governor General of Canada * Louis Léger – French writer and pioneer in Slavic studies...
and a photograph by surrealist Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
and cash. The life insurance policies were allegedly signed over to Mr Banier after Ms Bettencourt was recovering from two hospital stays in 2003 and 2006.
In December 2007, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers
Françoise Bettencourt Meyers
Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers is a French heiress and author of Bible commentaries and works on Jewish-Christian relations. The only daughter and thus under French law heiress of Liliane Bettencourt, Meyers was raised in a strictly Catholic household. However she married the Jewish grandson of a...
, the daughter of Ms Bettencourt, lodged a criminal complaint against Mr Banier, accusing him of abus de faiblesse (or the exploitation of a physical or psychological weakness for personal gain) over Ms Bettencourt. As a result of her complaint, the Brigade Financière, the financial investigative arm of the French national police, opened in investigation and, after interviewing members of Ms Bettencourt’s staff, determined to present the case to a court in Nanterre
Nanterre
Nanterre is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located west of the center of Paris.Nanterre is the capital of the Hauts-de-Seine department as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Nanterre....
for trial in September 2009. In December 2009, the court delayed ruling on the case until April 2010 (later extended until July 2010) pending the results of a medical examination of Ms Bettencourt’s mental state. However, Ms Bettencourt refused to submit to these examinations.
In July 2010, the trial was adjourned again until autumn 2010, at the earliest, after details of tape recordings made by Ms Bettencourt’s butler became public. The tapes allegedly reveal that Ms Bettencourt had made Mr Banier her “sole heir” (excluding the L'Oréal shares which make up the bulk of Ms Bettencourt’s estate and which have already been signed over to her daughter and two grandsons). Bettencourt has since removed Banier from her will.
Selected Works
Novels- Les Résidences Secondaires, Grasset, 1969
- Le Passé composé, Grasset, 1971
- La Tête la première, Grasset, 1972
- Balthazar, fils de famille, Gallimard, 1985
- Sur un air de fête, Gallimard, 1990
- Les Femmes du métro Pompe, Gallimard, 2006
- Johnny Dasolo, Gallimard, 2008
Plays
- Hôtel du lac, Gallimard, 1975
- Nous ne connaissons pas la même personne, Grasset, 1978
- Je ne t'ai jamais aimé, Gallimard, 2000
Photography
- Photographies, Gallimard/Denoël, 1991
- Past-Present, William Morrow, New York, 1996 ; Schirmer/Mosel, Munich 1997
- Vivre, São Paulo, Pinacoteca do Estado ; Rio de Janeiro, Museum de Arte Moderna, 1999
- François-Marie Banier, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Asahi Schimbun, 2000
- Brésil, Gallimard, 2001
- François-Marie Banier, Miami Beach, Bass Museum of Art ; Gallimard, 2003
- Le Chanteur muet des rues, en collaboration avec Erri de Luca, éd. Martin d'Orgeval, Gallimard, 2006
- Perdre la tête, Die schönsten deutschen Bücher (Prix du meilleur livre allemand, section photographie), 2006 ; Silver Crown Award, Moscou, 2007
- Vive la vie, with photographs of Natalia VodianovaNatalia VodianovaNatalia Mikhailovna Vodianova is a Russian model and philanthropist who now permanently resides in the United Kingdom.-Early life:Born in Gorky, Soviet Union , Natalia Vodianova grew up in a poor district of the city with her mother and two half sisters, one of whom has cerebral palsy...
. Steidl, Göttingen, Germany, 2008. ISBN 978-3-86521-821-6. - Beckett, Steidl, 2009
Art exhibitions
- 1991 : Musée national d'Art moderne, Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris
- 1994 : Bunkamera Gallery, Tokyo ; galerie Beatrice Wassermann, Munich
- 1997 : Villa Farnèse, Rome
- 1998 : Private Heroes, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart
- 2000 : Fotos y Pinturas, musée national des Beaux Arts d'Argentine, Buenos Aires
- 2001 : Täglich Neues, musée Ludwig ; Coblence ; Budapest
- 2003 : Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris
- 2003 : Transphotographiques, Lille, Crypte de la Cathédrale de la Treille
- 2005 : Perdre la tête, Académie de France à Rome, Villa Medici
- 2006 : True Stories, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul
- 2007 : Perdre la tête, Manège de Moscou
- 2007 : Galerie Gagosian, Los Angeles
- 2007 : Written Photos, Villa Oppenheim, Berlin
- 2007 : Transphotographiques, Lille, Eglise St Maurice
- 2009 : Beckett, Maison de la Photographie, Lille
Filmography (actor)
- Chassé-croisé, film by Arielle Dombasle, 1982
- L'Argent (1983), film by Robert BressonRobert Bresson-Life and career:Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe, Puy-de-Dôme, the son of Marie-Élisabeth and Léon Bresson. Little is known of his early life and the year of his birth, 1901 or 1907, varies depending on the source. He was educated at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris, and...
, 1983 - La Nuit porte-jarretelles, film by Virginie Thévenet, 1985
- 4 aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle, film by Éric RohmerÉric RohmerÉric Rohmer was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter and teacher. A figure in the post-war New Wave cinema, he was a former editor of Cahiers du cinéma....
, 1987 - L'Arbre, le maire et la médiathèque, film by Éric RohmerÉric RohmerÉric Rohmer was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter and teacher. A figure in the post-war New Wave cinema, he was a former editor of Cahiers du cinéma....
, 1993 - L'Anglaise et le Duc, film by Éric RohmerÉric RohmerÉric Rohmer was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter and teacher. A figure in the post-war New Wave cinema, he was a former editor of Cahiers du cinéma....
, 2001 - L'Heure d'été, film by Olivier Assayas, 2008