Menu

Jean Pigozzi

About

Jean Pigozzi picked up a Leica camera as an adolescent and began formulating a diaristic style that revolved around his observations of upper–class life. While attending Harvard University, he made regular sojourns to New York City where he mingled with artists and tastemakers, taking photographs in close proximity. His “sophisticated snapshots,” significantly influenced by Robert Frank and Helmut Newton, are candid and intimate: friends including Andy Warhol, Anjelica Huston, and Diane von Furstenberg, among others, are captured in scenes of social revelry or voluptuous leisure. Pigozzi often appears in his own photographs, affirming the role of the camera as a tool for his keen engagement with the world.

Jean “Johnny” Pigozzi was born in 1952 in Paris, France. He received his B.A. in 1974 from Harvard University, Massachusetts. Pigozzi’s work has been exhibited in several solo exhibitions including Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris (1974); Les Rencontres D’Arles Photographie, France (2010); “Johnny Stop!,” The Moscow House of Photography, Moscow (2011); and “My World, Jean Pigozzi,” Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2014). Recent group exhibitions include “Pigozzi and the Paparazzi,” Helmut Newton Foundation, Berlin (2008); and “An Ear for Music, An Eye for Art: The Ahmet Ertegun Collection,” The Baker Museum, Florida (2013). Pigozzi’s most recent body of work entitled, “Johnny’s Pool,” will be on view at Gagosian Gallery, New York, from April 12th to May 28th 2016.

Pigozzi is also an avid contemporary art collector: he founded the largest collection of contemporary African art in 1989, known as the Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC—The Pigozzi Collection), and spearheaded the Japigozzi Collection of contemporary Japanese art in 2006. Works from Pigozzi's collections have been exhibited at institutions including The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2005); National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C. (2005–06); The Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain (2006–07); Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow (2011); CNAC–Le Magasin, Grenoble, France (2011); and Foundation Cartier, Paris (2015–16), among others.

Pigozzi currently lives and works between New York, London, Paris, and Antibes, France.

Fairs, Events & Announcements

Jean Pigozzi: The 213 Most Important Men in My Life (Bologna, Italy: Damiani, 2021)

Book Signing

Jean Pigozzi
The 213 Most Important Men in My Life

Thursday, October 28, 2021, 4–5pm
Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London

This event has been canceled.

Jean Pigozzi will sign copies of his new book, The 213 Most Important Men in My Life, at Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill, London. It gathers together a collection of photographs annotated with the photographer’s personal memories of the men and mentors who have influenced him over the years. The selection includes his father, Enrico Pigozzi, who passed away when Pigozzi was just a teenager; Italian entrepreneur Gianni Agnelli; music legends Bono, David Bowie, and Mick Jagger; and art world figures Larry Gagosian and Ettore Sottsass, among other icons of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The book, published by Damiani, will be available for purchase at the event.

Jean Pigozzi: The 213 Most Important Men in My Life (Bologna, Italy: Damiani, 2021)

Jean Pigozzi, Kiraht Rosier, Frédéric Mitterand, Loulou de la Falaise, and Marie Hélène de Rothschild and friends, Le Palace Nightclub, Paris, France, 1978, 1978 © Jean Pigozzi

Shop Takeover and Book Signing

Jean Pigozzi

June 1–July 28, 2018
Book signing: Wednesday, June 20, 6–8pm
Gagosian Shop, Paris

This summer the Paris Shop will be transformed into “Johnny’s France” with a selection of Jean Pigozzi’s candid photographs of celebrities such as Mick Jagger, Grace Jones, and Sylvester Stallone in glamorous locations, from Paris to Cannes. The shop will also showcase the limited-edition Leica Sofort Limoland instant camera by Pigozzi, a collection of books by and about Pigozzi, and a mermaid-motif wallpaper designed by the artist.

Pigozzi will sign copies of his book, Pool Party, on Wednesday, June 20, from 6 to 8pm, in the shop. To attend the free event, RSVP to shop.paris@gagosian.com.

Jean Pigozzi, Kiraht Rosier, Frédéric Mitterand, Loulou de la Falaise, and Marie Hélène de Rothschild and friends, Le Palace Nightclub, Paris, France, 1978, 1978 © Jean Pigozzi