Two Hats in Room, Paris (VOGUE), 1963
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed, dated and titled in pencil on verso. Gelatin Silver Print 12 1/4 x 10 1/16 inches.
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William Klein Art
American, 1926-2022
American photographer William Klein continually channeled the zeitgeist through his oeuvre, imbuing his photography with startling honesty and empathy, as well as his own particular brand of abstraction. The portraits, scenes and scenarios resemble windows into a world where reality has begun to warp, sometimes dreamily, other times more emphatically, so that snapshot moments are strangely portentous or full of possibility.
Klein was best known for his early fashion shots and arresting street photography, capturing, with candor and humanity, life in cities around the world, including Rome, Moscow, Tokyo and Paris. His gritty and grainy images of 1950s New York are widely considered his most powerful, documenting the underbelly of a growing metropolis, with his focus set on the energy and multidimensional nature of postwar culture. In his 1955 image Selwyn Theatre, 42nd Street, New York, for example, Klein contrasted the gleaming silhouette of a car with the faded-out forms of a group of young men about town, creating strong graphic patterns that suggest a sense of abandon and opportunity.
Klein’s aesthetic, however, is not easy to summarize, since he demonstrated an eager embrace of experimentation through the decades. Early street shots are often out of focus and taken at unexpected angles, while his 1960s fashion shots and celebrity portraits for Vogue’s American, French and British editions are sleek and subtly Surrealist, pioneering a new style that put the spotlight on the beauty of the composition rather than the allure of the clothes, as seen in Smoke and Veil (1956) and his 1961 portrait of Anouk Aimée for Paris Vogue.
In addition to photography, Klein explored painting, filmmaking, graphic design and publishing, adopting a polymathic attitude to the arts. Klein began his career as a painter under the tutelage of French abstractionist Fernand Léger, having moved to Paris in 1948. The experience opened his mind to the possibilities of manipulated form, specifically the illusionary effects achieved through the playful arrangement of light and shadow.
A commission from 1952 was instrumental in his side step into photography. Having created a painted room divider for an architect, Klein took photographs of the rotating piece. His delight in the fragmented shapes created by the movement prompted him to make thousands of abstract photograms by applying shifting geometrical forms on photographic paper during long exposures.
Indeed, the unorthodox mixture of disorder and imperfection, along with beauty and energy, remained a constant in his work, as evidenced by such unconventionally arresting images as Candy Store, Amsterdam Avenue, New York (1955), Independence Day Parade, Dakar (1963) and Black Venus West Indian Day Parade, Brooklyn, New York (2013). Among Klein’s most famous celluloid achievements is his 1964 documentary Cassius the Great, dedicated to a young Muhammad Ali in the run up to his fight with Sonny Liston.
In fact, many of Klein’s photographs and films have a strong sociopolitical dimension, although they were not intended as acts of propaganda. Instead, they raised awareness about conditions of flux, antagonism, hope and change, especially among African American and minority communities as they navigated times of change. This is exemplified by vibrant shots like Easter Sunday, Harlem High Hat, New York and Moves and Pepsi, Harlem, both featured in the self-designed and self-published seminal tome New York: 1954.55.
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Simone + Nina, Piazza di Spagna (Vogue), 1960
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso Gelatin silver print Image 13 x 18 1/2", Paper 16 x 20
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Dorothea McGowan, Vogue, 1962
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Dorothea McGowan, Vogue, 1962 (Printed Later) Signed, Titled, Dated in pencil on verso Gelatin Silver Print Paper - 20"x24", Matted - 24"x30"
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Antonia + Taxi, New York (Vogue), 1962
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1926-2022 Antonia + Taxi, New York (Vogue), 1962 Signed, titled, and dated in ink on verso C print on dibond Mount: 19 7/8 x 15 3/4 inches, Image: 19 1/4 x 13 3/8
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
C Print
Anne St. Marie + Cruiser, New York (Vogue), 1958
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Anne St. Marie + Cruiser, New York (Vogue), 1958 Signed in ink with artist's sticker on verso; Mounted to aluminum Chromogenic Print Paper 19 5/8 x 15 3/4 inc...
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
C Print
"Times Square Mirror" New York City (VOGUE)
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 "Times Square Mirror" New York City (VOGUE), 1962 Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso. Gelatin Silver Print 20 x 16 inches
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Simone, Painting, Coffee, Rome
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Simone, Painting, Coffee, Rome, (VOGUE), 1960 Signed, titled & dated in pencil on verso Gelatin Silver Print 20 x 16 inches
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William Klein" Smoke & Veil, Paris, VOGUE" portrait, photography, fashion, black and white, 1958
$10,250
" Smoke & Veil, Paris, VOGUE" portrait, photography, fashion, black and white
By William Klein
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
Framed and matted under glass, William Klein "Smoke and Veil" depicts model, Evelyn Tripp with a cigarette held between two elegantly polished fingers. Signed in pencil on verso "S...
Category
20th Century Contemporary William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William Klein, Four Heads, New York, 1955 / printed 1981
By William Klein
Located in Los Angeles, CA
William Klein - Four Heads, New York, 1955 / printed 1981 Gelatin silver print Signed, titled and dated to verso '4 Heads New York 1955 William Klein 1981'. image: 12.75 h x 9.625...
Category
1980s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage William Klein Art
Materials
Glass, Wood
Smoke & Veil, Paris Vogue
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928 "Smoke & Veil" Paris (VOGUE), c. 1950's Gelatin silver print 16 x 20 inches; Signed in pencil on verso
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Horsing around with Pepsi, Harlem, New York, 1955
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Horsing around with Pepsi, Harlem, New York, 1955 Signed and dated on verso Gelatin Silver Print Image - 19" x 13.25", Paper - 16" x 20"
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William Klein Portfolio Magazine (photography)
By William Klein
Located in Brooklyn, NY
William Klein, portfolio magazine. Special edition. 110 pages, 1997. Softcover. 11x14 inches. Some very minor wear otherwise excellent condition. A retrospective of photographs by William Klein. Printed on thick coated stock paper in Germany. Limited edition. Number 7 in the continuing series by Stern. William Klein The social documentary tendencies of William Klein’s oeuvre find their roots in his hometown of New York City. Though he began as a painter working in Paris and Milan, Klein was enticed back to the U.S. by photography and immediately began working for Vogue. Klein's first assignment was to create a photo-journal of New York, a project that began his raw city portraits...
Category
1960s Vintage William Klein Art
Materials
Paper
Staten Island Ferry, New York, 1955
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso. Gelatin Silver Print 16 x 20 inches
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Baseball Cards, 1955
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Baseball Cards, 1955 Signed, titled and dated in pencil on print verso Gelatin Silver Print 16 x 20 inches
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Gun 1, New York
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Gun 1, New York, 1955 Signed, dated and titled in pencil on verso Gelatin Silver Print Paper - 16"x20, Matted - 20"x24"
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Evelyn, Isabella, Nena, & Mirrors, New York (Vogue), 1962
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Evelyn, Isabella, Nena, & Mirrors, New York (Vogue), 1962 Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso. Gelatin Silver Print Paper Size: 24 x 20 inches; Image Size: 21 5/8 x 17 3/8 in...
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
![Simone & Nina, Piazza di Spanga, Rome [Vogue]](https://a.1stdibscdn.com/william-klein-photography-simone-nina-piazza-di-spanga-rome-vogue-for-sale/a_14/a_173787521766017664667/klein_rome72.jpg?width=240)
Simone & Nina, Piazza di Spanga, Rome [Vogue]
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Simone & Nina, Piazza di Spagna, Rome (VOGUE), 1960/ Printed Later Signed, titled & dated in pencil on verso Gelatin Silver Print Paper - 16"x20", Matted - 20...
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Atomic Bomb Sky, New York
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 "Atomic Bomb Sky" New York City, 1955 Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso. Gelatin Silver Print 16 x 20 inches
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Barbershop, Rome
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein (born April 19, 1928) is an American-born French photographer and filmmaker noted for his ironic approach[1][2] to both media and his extensive use of unusual photograp...
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Club Allegro Fortissimo, Paris
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Club Allegro Fortissimo, Paris, 1990 Signed, titled & dated in pencil on verso Gelatin Silver Print Image - 12.75 x 19", Paper - 16 x 20"
Category
1990s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Simone Daillencourt, Rinascenti, 1960
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso. Gelatin Silver Print Mat 24 x 20 inches; Paper 20 x 16 inches; Image 18 x 14 inches
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Wings of the Hawk, 42nd Street, New York, 1955
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso Gelatin Silver Print 20 x 16 inches
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Red Light, Piazza Flaminia, Rome, 1956
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso Gelatin Silver Print 20 x 24 inches
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Tokyo Stock Exchange, 1961
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed, titled & dated in pencil on verso Gelatin Silver Print Paper 16 x 20 inches; Image 12 1/8 x 18 inches
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Anne & Isabella, Queensborough Bridge, New York City (VOGUE)
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Anne & Isabella, Queensborough Bridge, New York City (VOGUE), 1962 Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso. Gelatin Silver Print 20 x 16 inches
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Dwarf, Little Italy, New York City
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Dwarf, Little Italy, New York City, 1955 Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso. Gelatin Silver Print 16 x 20 inches
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William KleinDwarf and Liquors, Little Italy, NYC, black + white photograph by William Klein, 1955
$6,000
Dwarf and Liquors, Little Italy, NYC, black + white photograph by William Klein
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
Dwarf and Liquors, Little Italy, NYC, black + white photograph by William Klein Dwarf and Liquors, Little Italy, NYC 1955/printed later Gelatin silver print 16 x 20 inches (40.6 ...
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Muhammad Ali, Kinshasa, Republique Democratique du Congo
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein (American, b. April 19, 1928) is a photographer best known for incorporating unusual elements into his photographs and videos. Born in New York, he grew up as a Jewish ...
Category
1970s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Coffee Baristas, Rome
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Coffee Baristas, Rome, 1956 Signed and dated on verso. Gelatin Silver Print Image - 13.75 x 19", Paper - 16" x 20"
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Dorothy + Hotel du Sud, Paris, France, 1960
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed in pencil on verso Gelatin silver print Paper: 20 x 16 inches, Image: 17 7/8 x 13 1/8 inches
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Fellini Drinking Coffee, Rome
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 Fellini Drinking Coffee, Rome, 1956 Signed, titled & dated in pencil on verso Gelatin Silver Print Paper 20 x 16 inches; Image 20 x 16 inches
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Selwyn Theatre, 42nd Street, New York
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
signed by artist
Category
20th Century William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Anne St. Marie + Cruiser in Traffic, NY (Vogue)
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein (born April 19, 1928) is an American-born French photographer and filmmaker noted for his ironic approach to both media and his extensive use of unusual photographic te...
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
C Print
Two Boys near Inverness, 1963
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed, Titled, Dated in pencil on verso Gelatin silver print Paper size 20" x 24"
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Elsa Maxwell's Toy Ball at the Waldorf, New York (3 Cigarettes), 1955
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Elsa Maxwell's Toy Ball at the Waldorf, New York (3 Cigarettes), 1955 Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso Gelatin Silver Print 16 x 20 inches
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
"Cadillac Blues" New York City
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Klein 1928-2022 "Cadillac Blues" New York City, 1955 Signed, titled and dated in pencil on verso. Gelatin Silver Print 16 x 20 inches
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Hat and 5 Roses, Paris Vogue
By William Klein
Located in Santa Monica, CA
signed by artist
Category
20th Century William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
H. W. Klein for Bramin, armchair, Denmark, 1960s.
By William Klein, Bramin Mobler
Located in Torino, IT
H. W. Klein for Bramin, armchair, Denmark, 1960s.
Category
1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage William Klein Art
Materials
Teak
William KleinSmoke + Veil, Paris, VOGUE, 1958
Price Upon Request
Smoke + Veil, Paris, VOGUE, 1958
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
Signed by the photographer on the verso
Category
1950s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William KleinPainting + Coffee: Simone D'Aillencourt, Fabiani, 1960
Price Upon Request
Painting + Coffee: Simone D'Aillencourt, Fabiani
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
Signed by the artist
Category
1960s Modern William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William KleinNina + Simone, Piazza di Spagna, Rome, 1960 - William Klein
Price Upon Request
Nina + Simone, Piazza di Spagna, Rome, 1960 - William Klein
By William Klein
Located in London, GB
Nina + Simone, Piazza di Spagna, Rome, 1960 Signed and numbered Platinum-palladium print, printed later 33 x 28 inches From an edition of 20 William ...
Category
Late 20th Century William Klein Art
Materials
Platinum
William KleinSmoke and Veil, Paris (Vogue), 1956
Price Upon Request
Smoke and Veil, Paris (Vogue)
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
Gelatin silver print Signed, titled, and dated in pencil, verso This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City.
Category
1950s Other Art Style William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William KleinDorothy and Beach Ball and Dwarf Scout, Paris, 1960
Price Upon Request
Dorothy and Beach Ball and Dwarf Scout, Paris
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
Gelatin silver print Signed, titled, and dated in pencil, verso This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City.
Category
1960s Other Art Style William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William KleinAnouk Aimée, Paris (Vogue), 1961
Price Upon Request
Anouk Aimée, Paris (Vogue)
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
Signed by the photographer.
Category
1960s William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William KleinDorothy + Feathered Hat, Rome, 1962
Price Upon Request
Dorothy + Feathered Hat, Rome
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
Dorothy + Feathered Hat, Rome, 1962 gelatin silver print 30 x 40" ed. of 30
Category
1960s Modern William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William KleinAnouk Aimee, Paris, 1961
Price Upon Request
Anouk Aimee, Paris
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
William Klein Anouk Aimee, Paris, 1961 silver gelatin print 32 x 40" ed. of 30 38 x 48" ed. of 30
Category
1960s Modern William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William KleinBarbara, Paris, 1956
Price Upon Request
Barbara, Paris
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
William Klein Barbara, Paris, 1956 gelatin silver print 30 x 40" ed. of 30
Category
1950s Modern William Klein Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
William Klein art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic William Klein art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by William Klein in lithograph, offset print and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 1960s and is mostly associated with the Pop Art style. Not every interior allows for large William Klein art, so small editions measuring 12 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Danny Lyon, Nickolas Muray, and Garry Winogrand. William Klein art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $625 and tops out at $75,000, while the average work can sell for $6,000.