William Klein

William Klein (New York, 19 April 1926 – Paris, 10 September 2022) was an American photographer and film director whose career unfolded largely in France. His ironic, unconventional approach transformed both fashion photography and postwar street photography, and he is widely regarded as one of the key figures of the twentieth century.

The son of working-class European Jewish immigrants, he served in the United States Army during the Second World War, stationed in Germany and later France with the 2nd Armored Division. It was during this period that he first visited Paris, where he settled permanently after being discharged in 1948. That year he enrolled at the Sorbonne, where he studied under Fernand Léger, among other teachers; André Lhote is also listed among his masters. At first he was drawn to abstract painting and sculpture, and in 1952 he held two solo exhibitions in Milan. His interest in kinetic art led him to meet Alexander Liberman, Vogue's art director, at an exhibition of his sculptures, which opened the way to his career in fashion.

With no formal training in photography, he won the Prix Nadar in 1957 for New York, a book of images taken during a brief return to his native city in 1954. Critics praised his ambivalent, ironic view of the fashion world, his rejection of the photographic rules of the time, and his use of wide-angle and telephoto lenses, natural light and motion blur. Among his best-known images are Gun 1, New York (1955), The Holy Family on Bike (Rome, 1956), Cineposter (Tokyo, 1961) and the cover of Serge Gainsbourg's album Love on the Beat (1984).

His first feature film, Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?, released in 1966, is a satire of the fashion world and earned him the Jean Vigo Prize in 1967. His filmography also includes the satire Mr. Freedom, which critic Jonathan Rosenbaum once called possibly the most anti-American film ever made, and documentaries such as Cassius the Great and The French (1982), about the Roland Garros tournament. He also produced more than 250 television commercials.

Klein died in Paris at the age of 96. His legacy lives on through retrospectives such as the one in New York in 2013 and the one at the International Center of Photography in 2022, and through the presence of his work in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Along with Robert Frank, New York Times critic Katherine Knorr counts him among the fathers of street photography.