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.
Find authentic William Klein photography on 1stDibs.
Price Upon Request
Painting + Coffee: Simone D'Aillencourt, Fabiani
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
Signed by the artist
Silver Gelatin
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.
Silver Gelatin
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.
Silver Gelatin
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
Silver Gelatin
Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928
Located in New York, NY
Listing includes framing with UV plexiglas, free shipping and a 14 day return policy. Ted Higby at Skyline Rodeo, 1928 15 x 12 inch gelatin silver print Image Size: 14 x 8.5 inches Frame size: 22.5 x 17.5 x 2 inches Edition of 15 Lora Webb Nichols was born in 1883 and grew up in the small mining town of Encampment, Wyoming. At the age of 16 Lora received her first camera and from that moment and for the next few decades she produced work that is both stunning in its singular voice and revealing in the world it opens up for us. At first Nichols photographed her family, friends, and the landscape around Encampment, but when the town experienced a copper mining boom Nichols expanded her scope to become a photographer for hire shooting portraits and industrial photographs. When the boom collapsed, Nichols took the risk of opening her own business in Encampment - The Rocky Mountain Studio - which opened in 1925. The studio ran for ten years, accumulating 24,000 negatives that illustrate the lives and environment of the people living in and around the town while creating a distinctive and surprising body of work. If one was to attempt an analogy – Nichols’ pictures fit somewhere between Lartigue and Lange - joyful and generous while objectively intimate. In particular what seems to distinguish Nichols’ work is the way she sees the world from a female perspective. As Vince Aletti...
Silver Gelatin
Bea with a whip at The Other Side
By Nan Goldin
Located in New York, NY
Nan Goldin Bea with a whip at The Other Side 1973 Gelatin silver print 14 x 11 inches; 36 x 28 cm Edition of 100 Signed, titled, dated, and numbered in graphite (lower right verso) ...
Silver Gelatin
$2,400
H 20 in W 15 in
"The Glimmer Twins - Mick Jagger" Photography 20x15 in by Charlie Auringer
Located in Culver City, CA
"The Glimmer Twins - Mick Jagger" Photography 20x15 in by Charlie Auringer Year: 1978 Edition of 50 Medium: Silver gelatin limited edition photographic print on paper Signed and num...
Silver Gelatin
$4,500
H 16 in W 24 in
"Marilyn Monroe, 1962" Photography 16 x 24 in Edition 57/75 by Lawrence Schiller
By Lawrence Schiller
Located in Culver City, CA
"Marilyn Monroe, 1962" Photography 16 x 24 in Edition 57/75 by Lawrence Schiller Silver Gelatin print Edition 57/75 Signed and numbered by the artist Printed later On Wednesday, May 23, 1962, Marilyn Monroe stepped onto the set of Something’s Got to Give to film what would become one of the most iconic and talked-about moments of her career: the now-legendary nude swimming pool scene. This extraordinary day—captured in a series of rare photographs by renowned photographer Lawrence Schiller—has since become a cornerstone of Hollywood history. Key moments that make this session truly historic: A Bold Cinematic First: Monroe spent nearly four hours in the pool on the 20th Century Fox lot, filming a sequence in which her character, Ellen Arden, appears to swim nude...
Silver Gelatin
Gravestone Detail
By Ansel Adams
Located in Pacific Grove, CA
This silver gelatin print is initialed "AA" in felt-tip ink either by the artist or an unknown hand on the front of the mount. This print comes from the collection of the artist's da...
Silver Gelatin
$5,483
H 30 in W 40 in
Daniel Craig Contact Sheet (Limited Edition of 25) - 30x40 In Celebrity Print
Located in New York, NY
This is a 2002 contact sheet (a positive print of all the negative images from a roll of 35mm film or medium format film) of youthful-looking Daniel Craig...
Silver Gelatin
$15,000
H 20 in W 24 in D 1 in
"Syd Barrett Laying on His Car" Photography 20" x 24" inch 14/50 by Mick Rock
By Mick Rock
Located in Culver City, CA
"Syd Barrett Laying on His Car" Photography 20" x 24" inch 14/50 by Mick Rock Edition: 14/50 Signed and numbered by Mick Rock Medium: Silver gelatin limited edition photographic pri...
Silver Gelatin
$8,225
H 30 in W 40 in
The Swan, With Leda (Limited Edition of 25) - 30x40 In Fine Art Print
Located in New York, NY
This 2009 photograph by legend photographer, John Stoddart depicts “The Swan with Leda.” It was inspired from the mythology of the Greek story of Leda and the Swan, when the God Zeus...
Silver Gelatin
The Swan, With Leda (Limited Edition of 25)
Located in New York, NY
This 2009 photograph by legend photographer, John Stoddart depicts “The Swan with Leda.” It was inspired from the mythology of the Greek story of Leda and the Swan, when the God Zeus...
Silver Gelatin
$1,775
H 10.01 in W 8.12 in D 0.02 in
Ruth Ford - American actress and model - Original Photography by Cecil Beaton
By Cecil Beaton
Located in Cologne, DE
Ruth Ford - American actress and model - Original Photography by Cecil Beaton Photo taken in 1940s Sir Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) is considered one of the mo...
Silver Gelatin
$2,741
H 24 in W 20 in
Tilda Swinton (Limited Edition of 25) - Celebrity Photography
Located in New York, NY
This 1986 black and white photograph was shot by British celebrity and fashion photographer, John Stoddart, captures Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton,...
Silver Gelatin
$4,024
H 11.82 in W 15.75 in
14 juillet 1936 Paris Willy Ronis Humanist black and white photography
By Willy Ronis
Located in Paris, FR
Willy Ronis is one of the most famous members of the French Humanist photography. Silver print on photographic paper Hand-signed by the artist lower right Stamp of the artist's stud...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
Club Allegro Fortissimo, Paris
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
Club Allegro Fortissimo, Paris,1990 Gelatin Silver Print/ Enlarged contact strip outlined with blue gloss paint, signed in felt pen 45 x 60 inches Edition unique Signed in felt pen
Silver Gelatin
Smoke + Veil, Paris (Vogue)
By William Klein
Located in New York, NY
William Klein (born in New York, NY, on April 19, 1928) is a photographer and filmmaker. Though born in New York and educated at the City College of New York, Klein is predominantly ...
Silver Gelatin