Jean Pigozzi carried a Leica around way before it was cool. In doing so, he has documented a life of dinner parties and full-on parties with friends and friends of friends, such as Gianni Agnelli, Federico Fellini, Mick Jagger, Steve Jobs, and Tom Ford. Many of these friendships evolved into mentorships—Pigozzi’s father, a self-made Italian businessman, died when Pigozzi was still a teenager—and his new book, out in time for Father’s Day, is a love letter to the 213 most important men in his life.
“Yes, there are [mostly] men in this book,” Pigozzi writes in the introduction. (The reason: “There were many important women in my life, but.... I was in love with quite a few of [them].”) Beginning with early-childhood photos of Pigozzi with his father, the book goes on to feature candid shots, in no particular order, of Andy Warhol; Franco the gardener, who cared for Pigozzi’s parents’ garden and now cares for Pigozzi’s; Ahmet Ertegun, who taught him never to show up to the office before noon; Mel Brooks, who introduced him to pastrami sandwiches at Canter’s, in L.A.; and others.
In a 2010 profile for Vanity Fair, Ingrid Sischy called Pigozzi “part 21st-century Renaissance man, part contemporary caveman … a living exception to the supposed rule that they just don’t make ’em like that anymore.” This book offers a look at the men that made him. —Julia Vitale