William Klein 1926-2022

Self portrait by William Klein

The title of his seminal book (you can't currently get it) was one of the great ones: "Life Is Good & Good for You in New York," although unfortunately it was then diluted with a three-word subtitle, after a colon, that now seems period-bound and anachro-hip, like the word "groovy," or happenings. I do love that he said that a limitation of the first book was always running out of film. I'll say. The book is resentment transformed into the visual (Klein hated New York), and, as Klein reports, American editors at the time thought the photos were "anti-American, and shitty." 

And tomorrow is the last day of his retrospective at the ICP in New York, which is ironic. Held over, but really too bad it couldn't continue for longer under the circumstances. The show is called "William Klein: YES: Photographs, Paintings, Films, 1948–2013." Curated by David Campany. Get over there and see it if you possibly can.

You can at least get that book.

His obituary made the AP, so that version is all over the place. The ones to read however are Andy Grundberg's workmanlike piece at the WaPo and Sarah Moroz's interview-based piece at The Guardian. A number of judiciously chosen quotations and pictures give a thumbnail portrait for those who don't know him. (I did think it a little sad that Mr. Grundberg felt obliged to define "Dada.") I've never read a great piece about WK. But perhaps fragments here and there is the proper way to go.

I was entering photography when he returned to it: he devised a signature strategy of presenting enlarged contacts with faux editing and cropping marks painted on in bright colors that was distinctively his but seemed just a touch precious and deliberately art-commercial. Admirable but nothing there to emulate. He called a contact sheet a madeleine.

A Frenchman born and raised in New York, he was the quintessential iconoclast, the quintessential outsider. He called his marriage "the love affair of the century." His style and his energetic rule-breaking underpin not only visual tropes that have long since wormed their way into the mainstream but also the popularity of rebellious rule-breaking attitudes. He foreshadowed Warhol, modern street photography, bad photography as good art, and the hybridized artist/professional (I actually never knew he did fashion during the same years he was working on New York, yet another discovery of Alexander Liberman's). If there was no William Klein, there would have to be. We really do need a new reprint of Life Is Good & Good for You in New York: Trance Witness Revels. (The DAP reprint, which did away with that wonderful title, was called New York 1954.55.) Internationally respected, never ignored, his fame was not matched by popular acceptance. But he did what he wanted. Klein was 96.

Mike

Book o' the Week

Migrant Mother, by Sarah Meister. "Each volume in the One on One series is a sustained meditation on a single work from the collection of MoMA." Forty-two pages with many illustrations. An engaging guided tour of the history and lore of "American photography's Mona Lisa."

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B&H Photo

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Kenneth Tanaka: "I was saddened, although certainly not surprised, to learn of William Klein’s death this week. He’s one of the few photographers, especially B&W photographers, who could inspire me to write many pages and wax poetically. By most accounts he was insecure, brash, and generally unpleasant around many people. It seemed to be his schtick. Ten years ago I had an opportunity to meet him in London but was ultimately unable to make the date. I lamented that miss for quite some time...but then realized that I would not really have been meeting the 'William Klein' I admired so highly.

"I have long enjoyed my collection of William Klein’s books, which live in a special ready-access location in my library. My personal favorite is actually a republication of the landmark book Mike cited. It’s New York 1954-55, published in 1995 by Dewi Lewis. In addition to more images than the original publication, it also features Klein’s comments on most of the images. One of that book’s most notable features is that it’s the only book I own whose traditional binding presents a full lay-flat design. This is such a critical success factor to making the book’s wall-to-wall full-bleed design so immersive! (You can watch a flip-thru of the book here.) Honestly, it’s one of the few books that have genuinely made me feel changed after viewing, and that I cannot seem to spend less than two hours viewing. Creepy.

"Many photographers’ obits claim they were 'influential' or pathfinders. It’s often more polite respect than fact. But in William Klein’s case it’s an understatement. His brash f-u attitude enabled him to plow genuinely new visual narrative grounds in both still photography and filmmaking. He was a big 'un!"

Nico: "Once saw a documentary about William Klein on the BBC. Sadly not available on their website and it’s blocked on YouTube. But I found it here. Mind: the original is one hour and five minutes. Enjoy."

Comments

[Albert Smith]

I remember one of the many monthly Photo Mags that I read back in the day did an article on Klein's technique for street photography (before I knew it had a name), where he put a wide angle lens on his camera and immersed himself into crowds, shooting straight on group shots of strangers. That became my motif for a year, which cured me of my voyeuristic telephoto street shooting. It also taught me to love those DOF scales on prime lenses, since this was zone focusing close in.

Its probably 3 decades since I read that article and I can still see Klein's images in my mind's eye.

[robert e]

I highly recommend (to photographers and certain others at least--they're not for everyone) the French TV series "Contacts", which Klein conceived. Each episode features a famous photographer's contact sheets and their commentary (sometimes about that specific sheet, sometimes about photography generally).

The introductory episode concerns Klein's own contact sheets and is available on youtube:
https://youtu.be/saBagIYC6to

I'm sure the narration is Klein's words, but probably not his voice.

I think I viewed the whole series, ages ago, via Netflix DVDs.

[robert e]

Re the French TV series Contacts. The whole series seems to be available on youtube. Here's a playlist (not mine):

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwRELoxFZPEvpuu89PsSb7sFYAUdRCdAg

This series seems very much inspired by / related to the approach that Mike describes in the post. But however you feel about that, it's an Olympian lineup: HCB, Koudelka, Goldin, Sugimoto, the Bechers, Michals, Newton, etc.

[Miguel Tejada-Flores]

Peter Turnley wrote a short, wonderful, emotional and touching tribute to William Klein on his Instagram account, and included a rather wonderful informal photo-portrait he took of Mr. Klein - with whom he had a friendly collegial relationship - some years ago. It's worth tracking down Peter's Instagram account and reading.

[Niels]

I bought the Errata facsimile of "William Klein – Life is Good & Good for You in New York" on closeout for €13.50 in February this year from artbooksonline.eu.
You can still get it there, but the price is adjusted for recent events. It is definitely a book I would love to see reprinted in its original form or maybe the 1995 version you mention.

There was a great one hour documentary on youtube which I have seen several times, most recently 2-3 month ago.
Sadly I don't recall the title and I can't seem to find it anymore, so I suspect it is taken down.
WK is revisiting NY and there is a memorable sene in a Harlem barber shop. If anyone know if it is available elsewhere, I'd love to know.

[darr]

William Klein: In Pictures

An exclusive video interview with William Klein and a first-ever glimpse behind the scenes at his Paris studio.

[L. Young]

Unlike Robert Frank (for example), I'd suggest it's difficult to underestimate Klein's impact on major stylistic movements within photography-as-art-practice in the mid-late 20th century (Eikoh Hosoe, the subsequent 'Provoke' era and subsequent photographic practice within that aesthetic in Japan owe a huge amount to Klein's visual influence), but because a good chunk of that influence happened outside of the USA, where Frank seems to have had a bigger impact on the nascent position of photography-within-the-academy/gallery there seems to be a tendency to try to shunt Klein into specific and disconnected categories (street/ fashion, etc), possibly because he is harder to explain to buyers who want their art/ practice pre-explained and shrinkwrapped.

[John Krill]

I viewed the book `New York' in 2001 and was blown away. Comparing it to The Americans was like comparing a Porsche (New York) to a VW (The Americans.) No contest.
I know most will disagree with but after reading many reviews of The Americans and finding only a few reviews available of New York I still believe New York was the important photo book of the 50s.
OK people hit me.

[Niels]

Just a heads up for those in the EU.
As of writing this 18. sept 2022. Amazon.de is taking preorders for William Klein: Yes for €38.99 (delivery December '22).
Amazon.com and ICP's preorder price is $95.00 (delivery next year) - a substantial difference.
Don't know what is going on.