American-born French photographer William Klein has passed away at the age of 96 in his home in Paris. Klein is considered one of the most influential and “groundbreaking” photographers thanks to his 1956 photo book Life is Good & Good for You in New York.
In his living room in Paris, William Klein flips through the new edition of his book, Tokyo, which just arrived from Japan. Klein, always particular, is pleased with the quality of the thick, glossy paper which enhances the contrasts of his 1961 photographs. Tokyo is a major work by Klein, part historical document and part personal diary. Over the course of three months, he captured the madness and strangeness of the city at the dawn of the turbulent 1960s. He returned from the trip with over 1,000 photographs. William Klein revisited that journey.
For Paris Photo, Le Réverbère gallery is presenting a vision of the landscape through the work of five photographers. They offer a reflection of our world, like the facets of a kaleidoscope, multiple and fragmented, from the urban landscapes of William Klein, the poetic and pictorial world of Bernard Plossu, the keen and confident vision of Pierre de Fenoÿl, the watchful but critical eye of Beatrix von Conta on the traces of man in the landscape, and the commitment of Von Conta and François Deladerrière for the ambitious, reflective group project on the French landscape, France(s) territoire liquide.
A resident of Paris for 60 years, Klein’s photographs of 1950s New York caught the city’s energy and grit and made his name. He talks about returning to Brooklyn, working for Vogue – and being praised by Picasso
A resident of Paris for 60 years, Klein’s photographs of 1950s New York caught the city’s energy and grit and made his name. He talks about returning to Brooklyn, working for Vogue – and being praised by Picasso
Try to put him in a box and he’ll find his way out. Still working at nearly 85 years old, William Klein has gone rogue in at least four different fields.
Try to put him in a box and he’ll find his way out. Still working at nearly 85 years old, William Klein has gone rogue in at least four different fields: abstract painting, photography, filmmaking and commercial copy writing.
He says: “Yesterday evening I saw a screening of photographs and it reminded me a little about this old joke: it’s a tourist who comes back from a trip and he tells the story of when he saw a leper. He had two stumps instead of hands. So the other guy asked him: ‘What did you give him?’… ‘I gave him f/8 125.’ And I felt this yesterday evening.”
