PARIS — Christoph von Weyhe, the artist who was the lifelong partner of Azzedine Alaïa, died Wednesday at age 88.
His passing was made public on Instagram by the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa.
“It is with great respect and affection that we honor the memory of Christoph von Weyhe, the lifelong partner of Azzedine Alaïa,” the post said.
“His presence and support were an integral part of the maison’s journey,” the foundation added. “We extend our deepest condolences to those who knew and loved him. His legacy remains, quietly etched into the history of Alaïa.”
Born in 1937 in Halle, at the time in the eastern German Democratic Republic part of Germany, von Weyhe was the scion of an aristocratic German family. After moving to Paris in his early 20s, he graduated from the Beaux-Arts in 1961.
It is around that time that he met Alaïa, then in the early days of his career. They would remain lifelong partners for the next six decades, until the couturier’s death in 2017.
Best known for his atmospheric landscapes, von Weyhe centered much of his artistic practice from the 1980s onwards was centered on his early adulthood, particularly scenes he would see while leaving the northern German port city of Hamburg where he grew up. Its harbor was a recurring subject.
Gouaches, which he considered part of his works “born from sensation,” were created directly on paper at the Hamburg harbor. He would later transform these into paintings on canvas.
Many of his large-scale works were painted his atelier, a light-filled space atop 18 Rue de la Verrerie, where they both had their apartments and also the heart of the Alaïa creation. To this day, his paintings are regularly showcased in Alaïa boutiques.
A 2016 monograph on his work titled “Christoph von Weyhe, Au Silence” was edited in conjunction with an exhibition on his work as part of a collaboration with French publisher Actes Sud and the Association Azzedine Alaïa, the precursor of the foundation.
Following the couturier’s death in 2017, von Weyhe cofounded the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa with Carla Sozzani to continue the mission set out by Alaïa of preserving his expansive collections of fashion history, art and design as well as his own archives.
The organization was recognized to be of public utility in 2020.
In recent years, von Weyhe had been embroiled in a long running legal battle with the foundation following his ouster from its board.
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