Signed; William Klein - William Klein Photographe etc. - 1983

Extremely rare, exceptionally signed on the half-title page and dedicated by William Klein (1926-2022). 144 pages and 106 black-and-white photographs, texts in French by Alain Sayag and art historian Carole Naggar. Solid hardcover with illustrated cover. In excellent condition, practically like new!

This beautiful book is the catalogue for the exhibition organized at the Centre Pompidou in Paris from May 11 to June 12, 1983. The text of the William Klein interviews with Carole Naggar, “Klein, index in 72 sections,” is organized as an alphabetic sequence over about fifteen illustrated pages. This exhibition represented the first major institutional retrospective in France, spanning his photographic work from abstraction to street and fashion photography, and his work as a filmmaker.

William Klein was twenty when he arrived in Europe with the American army as part of the occupation of Germany after World War II. A shrewd move earned him a Rolleiflex during a game, and he joined the demobilized in Paris to resume studies he had left in the United States. Klein began his artistic career with painting and abstract photography in the early 1950s, notably with his photograms and kinetic panels in Milan and Paris, before becoming the giant of street and fashion photography known today. As early as 1952, Klein’s images graced the cover of Domus, the Italian monthly magazine devoted to design and architecture. This alliance of photography and graphic design produced abstract images that were greatly appreciated by the contemporary art scene.

After eight years in Europe, Klein returned to his hometown at the end of the 1940s—and received a commission from Vogue. Fueled by his Paris work, he roamed New York in search of a new way to represent its streets and inhabitants. In a sense, he rediscovered his city just as he discovered photography: Klein ignored genre canons, left them behind, pushed boundaries, rejected conventional rules of photographic practice, and blurred the lines between photography and graphic arts. Klein loved blur, grain, optical accidents, and chaos. His New York images were rejected by Vogue, but he took them to Paris, where they were warmly received. His photographs were collected in his first book, initially published by Le Seuil in France, Life Is Good & Good for You in New York, which won the Nadàr Prize in 1957. Whether on a New York street, in a Moscow slum, or on an Italian beach, Klein is not a thief of moments nor casual in his street photography—though he fully masters the notion of the decisive moment. The subjects in his images become models, naturally posing in front of the photographer who looks directly at them. The gaze is captured in all its simplicity—thus Klein places his approach in sincerity. He never stages his shots but instead seeks the authenticity of a situation. It seems to say: I am a photographer, and I am here to photograph you. After a second work devoted to the city of Rome (1958), he drew from his stay in Moscow the work Moscow (Mockba). Likewise, he offered an innovative look at Tokyo, to which he dedicated a work published in 1964. The early installments of a long (very long) series that trace the artist’s stylistic progression as he continually renews himself.

As for fashion photography, Klein brought top models out of studios to inhabit the street in almost natural and credible situations, and Klein blurs the boundaries between fashion and street photography, once again overturning established codes.

Exemplary copy in excellent condition, practically like new. A personal collection book kept with the utmost care. Protected shipping with reinforced packaging and insured international tracking. For multiple purchases, group shipping is possible with reimbursement of any excess postage paid via Paypal.

1.1 kg excluding packaging