MARIO TESTINO FEATURED IN TLMAG 41: THE ART OF COLLECTING
For its 2026 Annual Edition, TLmag 41 – The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, TL Magazine includes a feature on Mario Testino titled Through the Lens of Collecting.
The issue considers collecting not merely as acquisition, but as a cultural act: a way of assembling meaning, preserving narrative, and shaping legacy. Positioned within this framework, Testino’s photography is examined as both document and artefact. His images do not simply record fashion, portraiture or tradition; they circulate within collections, institutions and private archives, accruing value as objects while retaining their original cultural charge.
Edited by Simon de Pury, whose career has bridged auctioneering, curating and global art markets, the edition situates photography within broader conversations about connoisseurship, authorship and permanence. In this context, Testino’s work is read through the dual lens of maker and collector, exploring how a photograph can function simultaneously as witness, commodity and cultural marker.
Through the Lens of Collecting reflects on the longevity of Testino’s images and their movement across editorial pages, exhibitions and collections worldwide. Rather than isolating a single body of work, the feature positions his practice within the ecosystem of collecting itself, where photography becomes both subject and object of preservation.
TLmag 41 forms part of the magazine’s 2026 Annual Edition and was released in conjunction with international launch events under the theme The Art of Collecting.
TLmag 41, Page 158-159. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino In collaboration with George Condo, for American Vogue, 2007; Mario Testino In collaboration with Urs Fischer, for German Vogue, 2014.
TLmag 41, Pages 160-161. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino, In collaboration with John Currin, for German Vogue, 2008; Mario Testino In collaboration Keith Haring for The Face, 1987, and Mario Testino, Alta Moda, Sarawja women’s costume, Peru 2018
TLmag 41, Pages 162-163. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino, In collaboration with Damien Hirst, London, 2019 and Mario Testino, In collaboration with Cecily Brown, for Vogue Brasil 2013; Mario Testino, In collaboration with Jenny Saville, for Vogue Brasil 2013
TLmag 41, Pages 164-165. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino, At Home, Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York 2007 and Natalia Vodianova photographed, by Mario Testino at his home in Los Angeles, for American Vogue 2012
TLmag 41, Pages 166-167. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino, A Beautiful World, A Devotee of The Orisha Obatalá, Santiago de Cuba 2023 and Mario Testino, Tokyo 2018
TLmag 41, Pages 168-169. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino, A Beautiful World, A woman of Juchitán Mexico, 2019 and Mario Testino, A Beautiful World, Festtagstracht, Appenzell Innerrhoden Switzerland 2024
TLmag 41, Pages 170-171. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino, A Beautiful World, Men Tattooed by Horiyoshi III, Yokohama Japan 2019
TLmag 41, Pages 172-173. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino A Beautiful World, A Bukhara Bride, Bukhara Uzbekistan 2023 and Mario Testino, Aquila chrysaetos (II), Mongolia 2019.
TLmag 41, Pages 174-175. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino, Acinonyx jubatus, Kenya 2023
TLmag 41, Pages 176-177. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino, Codes of Honour, Pontifical Swiss Guards Vatican City2023
TLmag 41, Pages 178-179. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino, A Beautiful World, A Man in costume as El Diablo Blanco de Rabinal, A White Devil, from the dance of Moros y Cristianos, Antigua Guatemala 2023 and Mario Testino, A Beautiful World, A Bedouin Woman, Al Arish Egypt 2024.
TLmag 41, Pages 180-181. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino, A Beautiful World, Women of Lagartera wear baroque embroidery, Lagartera Spain2019
TLmag 41, Pages 182-183. The Art of Collecting, guest edited by Simon de Pury, featuring Mario Testino. The 2026 Annual Edition includes the feature Through the Lens of Collecting, examining photography as authorship, artefact and cultural memory. Images featured: Mario Testino, A Beautiful World, A Kurdish Bride Sulaymaniah, Kurdistan Region of Iraq 2025 and Mario Testino, A Beautiful World, A Woman of the Thari Tharparkar Pakistan 2024.