“When I am frightened, I invent an image.” – Goethe

Thirty years ago, a cult book published by Phaidon Press Limited created a stir in the world of photography. Techniques of the World’s Great Photographers included Francis Giacobetti in the very closed circle of the world’s forty greatest photographers since the beginning of photography. Those whose style is instantly recognizable.
Daguerre, Henry Fox Talbot, Nadar, Roger Fenton, Lewis Carroll, Eadweard Muybridge, Alfred Stieglitz, Atget, Baron de Meyer, Edward Steichen, August Sander, Edward Weston, Paul Strand, Weegee, Man Ray, Kertész, Blumenfeld, Cartier-Bresson, Brassaï, Bill Brandt, Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Robert Frank, Irving Penn, Joel Meyerovitz, Francis Giacobetti. In principle, all these men have nothing in common, except that they are inventors of images, and that they all have the same occupation: “freezing life for an instant to enclose it in an image.” And what a beautiful way of living it is to watch women, men, and little children moving inside a small rectangle. Formerly, there were two Pirelli calendars, as well as the visual bible of great photographers, and several hundred award-winning exhibitions. In 1992, Francis Giacobetti offered photography a first-class introduction into the Grand Palais, for the Salon des Artistes Français, created by Colbert in 1663 according to the wish of King Louis XIV. He shared the podium with Camille Claudel for sculpture, Edouard Detaille for painting, Dunoyer de Segonzac for engraving, and Roland Schweitzer for architecture. In 1993, he was chosen by the building department of the Grand Louvre, along with artists César, Buren, and Jean-Pierre Reynaud, to introduce contemporary art in the museum of museums. Twenty-four of his pictures are still hanging in the former office of the Ministry of Finance, in the Richelieu wing of the Louvre. 1994 was the year of Francis Bacon by Francis Giacobetti, the monumental exhibition at the Marlborough Gallery in London – a total of 200 photographs with featured publications in the Independent Magazine and the Art Newspaper. Then came another exhibition around Francis Bacon, at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art, University of East Anglia, Norwich. And in 2008, Francis Bacon by Francis Giacobetti came to the Kings Place Gallery in London.

1969 Nikon Gallery, Paris/Tokyo - 1971 Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, a retrospective - 1973 Washington Gallery of Modern Art, Francis Giacobetti - 1973 Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Madrid - 1973 Grand Prix of the Photokina Köln, Germany, first prize - 1975 Pirelli exhibition, Milan Paris London New York - 1980 Sogo exhibition, Japan, retrospective in Tokyo Kobe Osaka Kyoto Nagoya Hiroshima - 1984 Time Square, New York, the world's largest Ektachromes, 18 metres high, for Kodak - 1987 Nathan Emery Coffia collection of the Des Moines Art Center, USA - 1989 the Ginza Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo Beauty - 1990 Pasadena Art Museum - 1992 Le Louvre, Richelieu wing, 10-year contract for 23 photographs by Francis Giacobetti exhibited alongside works by Buren, Cesar, and Jean-Pierre Reyneau - 1992 Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, Issey Miyake by Francis Giacobetti - 1992 the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester - 1993 Hallon Gallery, University of Newcastle - 1993 Krials Erst Köln Gallery – pictures of Francis Bacon by Francis Giacobetti, precious metal prints - 1994 Marlborough Gallery, London, Albemarle Street, Francis Bacon by Francis Giacobetti - 1994 Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, Bacon - 1995 Art Institute of Chicago, Bacon - 1995 Pirelli exhibition, Milan Tokyo New York Los Angeles San Fransisco - 1996 Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Issey Miyake - 1998 Isetan Museum of Art, Shinjuku Tokyo, Bacon & Giacobetti pictures - 1998 special issue of Stern magazine on Francis Giacobetti - 1998 the Independent, Bacon, the latest interview by Francis Giacobetti - 1998 Francis Giacobetti, Basel Fair, Marlborough Gallery, Bacon - 1999 Moderna Museet Stockholm, Francis Bacon by Francis Giacobetti - 2000 Sainsbury Center for visual arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich - 2000 Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Giacobetti pictures - 2001 the Saint Louis Art Museum - 2003 Stern mag calendar - 2005 Fondation suisse Bayeler - 2008 Kings Place Gallery, London, Francis Bacon by Francis Giacobetti