In parallel with his magazine activities, Francis Giacobetti travelled the world to create a gallery of portraits immortalising one hundred and seventy talented men and women of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Each time it was the same ritual. First he made a traditional black and white portrait, then, with the help of an ophthalmological camera of his own invention, he photographed his subject’s pupil. A window into the soul, unique, in essence. The Dalai Lama, César, Fidel Castro, Francis Bacon and even Luciano Pavarotti took part in the exercise. The team of the French magazine Photo wrote in October 1992 in a special issue dedicated to the photographer: “No one has never been able to photograph talent, nor intelligence, but one must photograph talented and smart people on the planet, in order to better understand its mysteries […] Our great contemporary heroes are our universal living treasures. Whatever their discipline and nationality, they have one thing in common to create this vital dream, without which it would be very banal to live. It seemed important to me to pay them tribute. Francis Giacobetti started this magnicent project. An overwhelming quest for legend.”
