He will remain as a major influence for many photographers. The American William Klein, who established himself in fashion but also urban photography, died “peacefully” Saturday evening in Paris at the age of 96, his son announced on Monday.
He revolutionized photography with his punchy images translating the feverishness and violence of cities, over the course of a long career. “In accordance with his wishes, the funeral will take place in the strictest privacy,” said his son, Pierre Klein, indicating that a public tribute would be paid to him later.
A “dancer and boxer of photography”
“William suffered from the hassles and complications linked to old age which attack the body, mobility, without winning over the mind which, at home, almost to the end, remained lucid”, underlines Alain Genestar, the director of the specialist journal and gallery Polka, in an online editorial. “Despite the exhaustion that was winning over him, he died at the helm,” continues the former editorial director of Paris Matchabout the one he describes as “the dancer and boxer of photography”.
Photographer but also painter, documentary filmmaker and graphic designer, William Klein is considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. He passed away as a retrospective exhibition of his work at the International Center of Photography in New York came to an end. “He was a visionary from all points of view, who ignored the social and artistic codes of his time to carve out a singular path both in his commercial work and in his personal projects, and in all media”, writes the museum on its site. “Innovative and uncompromising, he opened countless doors for image makers.”
Similarly, the European house of photography deplores the disappearance of one of the “founding names” of its collection, “reference for many artists”. The Academy of Fine Arts, which created a prize in his name in 2019, also wishes to honor a man whose work “marked the history of photography”.
First device in poker
Born on April 19, 1926 in New York, he had discovered Europe while doing his military service. Demobilized in Paris in 1946, William Klein then devoted himself to painting, after having studied with Fernand Léger. He lived in France since his meeting with his future wife Jeanne Florin, model and painter, with whom he shared his life until his death in 2005.
The one who won his first camera in poker before catching the eye of vogue also has several feature films to his credit. and more than 250 commercials. Among his famous shots, there is in particular the cover of Serge Gainsbourg’s album love on the beat in 1984, where the singer appears in drag. “His field of creation was vast and multiple”, with the only motto “No rules, no limits” (no rules, no limits), summarizes Alain Genestar, who calls him “the artist of chaos”.