William Klein
photographer
William Klein was an influential American-born French photographer and filmmaker known for his ironic approach to media and innovative use of photographic techniques. Born in New York City to Hungarian-Jewish immigrants, he studied sociology at the City College of New York before serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. After moving to France, he initially trained as a painter under Fernand Léger before transitioning to photography. Klein gained widespread fame for his fashion photography for Vogue and his photo essays on various cities, including New York, Rome, Moscow, and Tokyo. His work is characterized by an uncompromising rejection of traditional technical norms, frequently employing wide-angle lenses, natural lighting, and motion blur to capture urban vitality. He was a pioneer of street photography and directed numerous documentaries and feature films, often satirizing American society and the fashion industry.[1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]
- street photography
- fashion photography
- urban life
- cinema verité
- satire
Books
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In and out fashion€29.00 -
New York 1954.55€277.00 -
Tokyo€260.00 -
William Klein: Catalogue€31.00
Works by William Klein
- 1970 Mister Freedom First edition.
- 1989 Close up
- 1990 Torino '90
- 1994 Mode in & out
- 1998 William Klein Films First edition.
- 2002 Paris + Klein
- 2005 MMV Romani
- 2005 William Klein, rétrospective
- 2009 Roma + Klein
- 2015 William Klein: Black and Light, Early Abstracts, 1952 – 2015
- 1966 Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? Satire on the fashion world.
- 1968 Mr. Freedom Satire on American Imperialism.
- 1977 The Model Couple
- 1965 Tokyo First German edition of one of Klein's four city books.
- 1956 New York Won the Prix Nadar in 1957.
- 1958 Life is good and good for you in New York: Trance Witness Revels Also published as 'New York 1954–55'.
- 1958 Rome Part of the Petite Planète series.
- 1964 Moscow First edition.
Exhibitions
- 2013 Without Compromise: The Cinema of William Klein
- 2017 William Klein: Photographs and Films
- 2022 William Klein: YES: Photographs, Paintings, Films, 1948–2013
Awards
- 1957 Prix Nadar
- 1967 Prix Jean Vigo
- 1988 Cultural Award
- 1990 Hasselblad Award
- 1999 Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS)
- 2012 Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award
References
- Washington Post. 2022 link
- Photography of the 20th Century. Masters of Photography. 2010 link
- William Klein: Photographs. Masters of Photography. 2010 link
- Top 100 Most influential photographers Century. Professional Photographer Magazine. 2012 link
- Sean O'Hagan. William Klein – in pictures. The Guardian. 2012 link
- designboom. 2009 link
- designboom. 2009 link
- Katherine Knorr. The New York Times. 1996 link
- The Criterion Collection link
- Photography Encyclopedia. Masters of Photography. 2010 link
- Chicago Reader. 1985 link
- The Guardian. 2022 link
- The New York Times. 2022 link
- ABC News. 2022 link