William Klein
American, 1926–2022
Smoke & Veil, Paris (Vogue), 1958
Gelatin silver print
Image: 22.05 x 15.55 in. (56 x 39.5 cm.)
Sheet: 23.62 x 19.69 in. (60 x 50 cm.)
Signed, dated and titled on verso
Printed later
Lot ID141855
Estimate
5,000—7,000 USD
After a stint in the military, William Klein studied abstract painting at Sorbonne in Paris under Fernand Léger, who often encouraged him to leave the studio and observe life on the street. Soon his paintings caught the eye of a Vogue editor who offered him an art director job in New York. Klein was deeply inspired by what he saw on the streets of New York, or as he said “women with hats and harlequin glasses walking around with a shoe or a piece of cloth or something,” and an editor encouraged him to take photographs, thereby marking the beginning of an enduring and iconic body of photographic work.
Another impression of this image is held in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
William Klein (American, 1928–2022) studied painting and worked briefly as Fernand Léger’s assistant in Paris, but never received formal training in photography. His fashion work has been featured prominently in Vogue magazine, and has also been the subject of several iconic photo books, including Life is Good and Good for You In New York (1957) and Tokyo (1964). In the 1980s, he turned to film projects and has produced many memorable documentary and feature films, such as Muhammed Ali, The Greatest (1969). His works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others. Klein most recently had an exhibition at the International Center of Photography, New York from July through September 2022. The artist passed away in September of 2022 at the age of 96.
Provenance:
Private Collection, Belgium