“We live in the age of the selfie,” Jerry Saltz wrote in 2014.
A few short years ago, one could say that people were still primarily interested in recording what was in front of them. Then, all of a sudden, people were turning their cameras around and taking pictures of themselves.
But as it happens, Jean Pigozzi (born 1952)—Italian businessman, art collector, philanthropist and photographer—has been taking selfies for more than 40 years (even though he is neither an American nor a millennial)! If the selfie is still in its “Neolithic phase,” as Saltz suggested, Pigozzi’s photographs represent a previously unknown Paleolithic one, with Pigozzi taking selfies as early as the 1970s.
Jean Pigozzi: ME + CO brings this unique body of work together for the first time. The book includes dozens of famous faces, such as those of Mick Jagger, Faye Dunaway, Mel Brooks, Andy Warhol and Lady Gaga, all pressed against Pigozzi’s face; Pigozzi also poses with the belly of a Turkish belly dancer, a busload of Japanese tourists and a stuffed dog. Pigozzi’s collected selfies are fascinating and fun, both for their strangely contemporary quality and for their old-school innocence.
"Jann Wenner + Me" (1977) is reproduced from 'Jean Pigozzi: ME + CO.'
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"I invented the selfie (but not the word selfie)," Jean Pigozzi writes in ME + CO, The Selfies: 1972–2016, his new monograph from Damiani. I use a Leica with a flash. I have long arms. I am dyslexic. Selfies are much better than autographs as they really prove that you met the person in the photo next to you." Featured image is captioned "Jerry Hall + Me + Mick Jagger" (1978). Other cameos include Faye Dunaway, Dolly Parton, Pelé, Martha Stewart, King Sunny Adé, and Andy Warhol, to name just a few. continue to blog
Businessman, art collector, philanthropist, bon vivant and heir to the Simca automobile fortune, Jean Pigozzi has traveled the world among the flamboyantly creative jetset with camera in hand for more than forty years, snapping selfies wherever he went long before the word “selfie” was born. Cindy Sherman, Lady Gaga, Calvin Klein, Salman Rushdie, Charlie Rose, Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, Hunter S. Thompson and B.B. King make appearances in his new collection, ME + CO, The Selfies: 1972–2016—alongside a favorite valet, a Turkish belly dancer, a stuffed crocodile, a Chinese soldier, and Picasso’s game-changing 1907 masterpiece, “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.” Pictured here, “Julie Christie + Me” (1977). continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 7.75 x 5.5 in. / 168 pgs / 160 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $40.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $54 ISBN: 9788862085502 PUBLISHER: Damiani AVAILABLE: 9/26/2017 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA
“We live in the age of the selfie,” Jerry Saltz wrote in 2014.
A few short years ago, one could say that people were still primarily interested in recording what was in front of them. Then, all of a sudden, people were turning their cameras around and taking pictures of themselves.
But as it happens, Jean Pigozzi (born 1952)—Italian businessman, art collector, philanthropist and photographer—has been taking selfies for more than 40 years (even though he is neither an American nor a millennial)! If the selfie is still in its “Neolithic phase,” as Saltz suggested, Pigozzi’s photographs represent a previously unknown Paleolithic one, with Pigozzi taking selfies as early as the 1970s.
Jean Pigozzi: ME + CO brings this unique body of work together for the first time. The book includes dozens of famous faces, such as those of Mick Jagger, Faye Dunaway, Mel Brooks, Andy Warhol and Lady Gaga, all pressed against Pigozzi’s face; Pigozzi also poses with the belly of a Turkish belly dancer, a busload of Japanese tourists and a stuffed dog. Pigozzi’s collected selfies are fascinating and fun, both for their strangely contemporary quality and for their old-school innocence.
