William klein age

Celebrated photographer and artist William Klein, credited with revolutionising urban photography, has died in Paris.

In a statement, his son Pierre Klein, said his father passed away on Saturday night.

Klein’s career spanned many decades and mediums, and his life encapsulated the post-war boom in creativity.

Getting his big break in American Vogue in 1954, Klein changed fashion photography forever by bringing models out of the studio and into the streets of the city, mingling them with passers by.

Perhaps Klein was best known however for his documentation of the streets of New York, with his work ‘diary’ - a book titled "Life is Good & Good For You in New York."

“I have always hated pictorialist photography, mist, drapery effects, bullshit staging,” Klein said in 2002.

“I was no more convinced by sentimental, humanist, nostalgic and clean photography, which dominated at the beginning of the 1990s. 1950. I wanted to shake things up. I had to keep myself as far away as possible from art photography.”

From New York in later years Klein took his innovative style to the streets of Rome, Moscow, Tokyo and finally Paris in 2002.

Who was William Klein?

Klein was born in New York to Jewish Hungarian immigrant parents and from a young age dreamed of going to Paris.

He finally made it to Europe in the 1940s but under less than idyllic circumstances as part of the US army occupying Germany in World War II.

After winning a Rolleiflex camera in a game of poker and gaining a scholarship, Klein studied abstract painting in his dream destination of Paris, and prior to working at Vogue was commissioned to adorn the walls of Milan’s Piccolo Teatro.

Aside from his widely admired photography work, Klein also directed several films and documentaries  including ‘Who are you Polly Magoo’ a satirical takedown of the fashion industry and portraits of pop rock legend Little Richar

American photographer William Klein, who made his mark with imagery of fashion and urban life, died in Paris on Saturday aged 96, his son Pierre Klein said in a statement Monday, September 12.

Mr. Klein, whose striking depictions of the restlessness and violence of city life helped revolutionize photography and who also worked in film and fashion, died "peacefully", the statement said.

Read the obituary:Photography trailblazer William Klein dies at 96

Le Monde with AFP

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Photographer and filmmaker (1926–2022)

William Klein (April 19, 1926 – September 10, 2022) was an American-born French photographer and filmmaker noted 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 ranked 25th on Professional Photographer's list of 100 most influential photographers.

Klein trained as a painter, studying under Fernand Léger, and found early success with exhibitions of his work. He soon moved on to photography and achieved widespread fame as a fashion photographer for Vogue and for his photo essays on various cities. He directed feature-length fiction films, numerous short and feature-length documentaries and produced over 250 television commercials.

He was awarded the Prix Nadar in 1957, the Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in 1999, and the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award at the Sony World Photography Awards in 2011.

A retrospective exhibition of his work, William Klein: YES: Photographs, Paintings, Films, 1948–2013, was shown at the International Center of Photography in New York until September 15, 2022.

Life and work

Klein was born in New York City into an impoverished

William Klein (April 19, 1926 – September 10, 2022) was an American-born French photographer and filmmaker. His works were mainly about photojournalism and fashion photography. He was seen as one of the most influential photographers of all time.

Klein died on September 10, 2022 in Paris, France at the age of 96.

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