William Klein

Personal Info

Known For Director

Gender Male

Birthday 1926-04-19

Deathday 2022-09-10 (96 years old)

Place of Birth New York City, USA

Also Known As Bill Klein

William Klein

Biography

William Klein (April 19, 1926 – September 10, 2022) was a photographer and filmmaker noted to for his ironic approach to both media and his extensive use of unusual photographic techniques in the context of photojournalism and fashion photography. Trained as a painter, Klein studied under Fernand Léger and found early success with exhibitions of his work. However, he soon moved on to photography and achieved widespread fame as a fashion photographer for Vogue and for his photo essays on various cities. Despite having no training as a photographer, Klein won the Prix Nadar in 1957 for New York, a book of photographs taken during a brief return to his hometown in 1954. Klein's work was considered revolutionary for its "ambivalent and ironic approach to the world of fashion", its "uncompromising rejection of the then prevailing rules of photography" and for his extensive use of wide-angle and telephoto lenses, natural lighting and motion blur. Klein tends to be cited in photography books along with Robert Frank as among the fathers of street photography, one of those mixed compliments that classifies a man who is hard to classify. The world of fashion would become the subject for Klein's first feature film, Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?, which, like his other two fiction features, Mr. Freedom and Le Couple Témoin, is a satire. Klein directed numerous short and feature-length documentaries and produced over 250 television commercials. Though American by birth, Klein lived and worked in France since his late teens. His work has sometimes been openly critical of American society and foreign policy; the film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum once wrote that Klein's 1968 satire Mr. Freedom was "conceivably the most anti-American movie ever made". Description above from the Wikipedia article William Klein, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Director

1999
Messiah

as Director

1998
1993
1985
Mode in France

as Director

1982
The French

as Director

1980
1978
May Days

as Director

1977
The Model Couple

as Director

1969
Mr. Freedom

as Director

1967
Far from Vietnam

as Director

1964
Cassius le grand

as Director

1958
Broadway by Light

as Director

Writer

1997
Contacts: Sophie Calle

as Original Concept

1978
May Days

as Writer

1977
1969
Mr. Freedom

as Writer

1966

Camera

1999
Messiah

as Director of Photography

1982
The French

as Director of Photography

1978
May Days

as Director of Photography

1977
The Model Couple

as Director of Photography

1974
Muhammad Ali: The Greatest

as Director of Photography

1969
The Panafrican Festival in Algiers

as Director of Photography

1958
Broadway by Light

as Director of Photography

Actor

1998
In and Out of Fashion

as Self (archive footage)

1985
Victoires de la musique

as (Record covers of the Year)

1962
La Jetée

as Man from the Future

Editor

1958

Creator

1989
Contacts

as Creator