Born April 19, 1926, in New York City; died September 10, 2022, in Paris, was an American painter, photographer, and filmmaker who lived and worked primarily in Paris. He is considered one of the most influential figures in postwar photography, particularly for his radical approach to street photography and the photobook.

Klein published a series of groundbreaking city books devoted to New York, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo, and Paris. These works broke decisively with established photographic conventions through their aggressive wide-angle perspectives, high contrast, blur, grain, and confrontational engagement with urban life. His visual language exerted a lasting influence on photographers such as Helmut Newton, Frank Horvat, David Bailey, and Jeanloup Sieff.

Life and Work

William Klein was born to Jewish immigrant parents in New York. He initially studied sociology before completing military service. In 1947, while stationed in Europe as a GI, he visited Paris for the first time and soon decided to settle there. He studied painting under André Lhote and later Fernand Léger, and in the early 1950s exhibited abstract geometric paintings.

Alongside painting, Klein began keeping a photographic diary. With support from Chris Marker, his first major photobook was published by Éditions du Seuil and awarded the Prix Nadar in 1957. The book—devoted to New York—was initially rejected in the United States but later recognized as a turning point in the history of photography.

From the late 1950s onward, Klein worked extensively as a filmmaker. He collaborated with Louis Malle on Zazie dans le métro and directed politically engaged documentaries, often focusing on race relations, mass media, and power structures. His portraits of figures such as Muhammad Ali, Little Richard, and Eldridge Cleaver reflect his strong commitment to civil rights and anti-racist struggles.

Between 1960 and 1965, Klein worked as a fashion photographer for Vogue, where he radically redefined the genre. Rejecting studio stiffness and classical poses, he introduced movement, spontaneity, and street energy into fashion imagery, a move that was both influential and controversial.

Klein’s work has been the subject of major retrospectives, including exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou in Paris (1983 and 2005), the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin (2004), and a comprehensive retrospective in Madrid in 2019.

William Klein died in Paris in 2022 at the age of 96. He is survived by his son Pierre and daughter Caryl.

Reference

Biography text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), German edition.
Retrieved January 19, 2026.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Klein