William Klein Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

William Klein (New York, 1928) is an American photographer and director. Klein is known for his ironic approach to both media and his extensive use of unusual photographic techniques in the context of photojournalism and fashion photography. Read the full biography

William Klein (New York, 1928) is an American photographer and director. Klein is known for his ironic approach to both media and his extensive use of unusual photographic techniques in the context of photojournalism and fashion photography. He was placed twenty-fifth among the hundred most influential photographers by Professional Photographer Magazine. After starting out as a painter, Klein studied under Fernand Léger and began exhibiting his work. However, he decided to shift his attention to the world of photography and became a popular fashion photographer for Vogue magazine. Although he did not have an apprenticeship in photography behind him, Klein won the Nadar Prize in 1957 for New York, a book of images taken in 1954 during a brief stay in his hometown. Klein's work was considered revolutionary for its "ambivalent and ironic approach to the world of fashion", for its "uncompromising rejection of the predominantly accepted rules of photography" and for the extensive use of wide-angle and telephoto lenses, natural light and the motion blur technique. Klein is often cited together with Robert Frank among the fathers of street photography. The world of fashion was the subject of Klein's first film, Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?, a satire like his other films. Klein has directed numerous documentaries and produced over 250 television commercials. Although born in the United States, Klein lived and worked in France from a very young age. His work is sometimes openly critical of American society and foreign policy: film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote that Klein's 1968 satire Mr. Freedom was probably the most anti-American film ever made.