Fifty one Fine Art Photography
Old and new work. William Klein acclaimed photographer, painter and filmmaker will have his first belgian show in September at Fifty one fine art photography. Klein pictures, which began as a furious protest against the establishment, influenced a whole generation of photographers.
( american, born 1928 )
"old and new work "
William Klein acclaimed photographer, painter and filmmaker will have
his first belgian show in September at Fifty one fine art photography .
Klein pictures, which began as a furious protest against the
establishment, influenced a whole generation of photographers.
Klein's original aspiration was to be a painter. In Paris during the
early 1950s, he studied briefly with Fernand Leger, whose freeing ideas,
he says, were more interesting to him than his paintings. Obviously
many young Americans gravitated to France during the postwar years; a
number of separate, sometimes overlapping expatriate groups formed,
circulating in France, Italy, and Spain, usually returning again
and again to Paris. Klein seems to have been focused more on acquiring a
serious education in avant-garde art than in being a part of the
international literary/artistic scene.
Klein in fact "discovered" photography through involvement with other
media.
His references in photography are Sander, Man Ray, Raoul Haussmann,
Bill Brandt, the FSA, Riis, Moholy-Nagy, Rodchenko, Marey, Walker Evans,
Muybridge, Lewis Hine, Weegee, John Heartfield ,S
Klein experimented with flash, wide-angle, grab shots, abstraction,
blur, close-up, accidents, deformations, harsh printing, special
layouts, and inking
William Klein succeeded in changing photography. Part of his talent was
in showing us what the possibilities of a photograph could be. The root
and heart of his work, from his early paintings and graphic
designs to photography and films, reveal his fascination with the image
of the city life and dream-nightmare around him - images that he first
captured with a camera as if he were in a trance
____________
Some important dates:
1955 : his New York journal is published by Chris Marker of Editions du
Seuil
1956: He is awarded with the Prix Nadar
1957-58 : first fashion shoot for Vogue
1960: photos for the book Moscow and works as artistic director for "
Zazie dans le metro"
1963: Shoots "le grand magasin " with Simone Signoret
1965 He directs 3 movies about Mohammed Ali :"Float like a butterfly"
1967: he makes the film Polly Maggoo and is awarded with the Jean Vigo
prize
1968 directed 'Mr freedom '
1980: directed: " The little richard story"
1981 : makes a 3 hour movie on Roland Garros during the french tennis
open
1982-1984: a series of photographic commissions : Sunday Times, Leica,
Liberation,..;
With the centre national de la photographie he conceives a pilot film
for a serie on the contact sheets of great photographers
1985: film: "Mode en france"
receives the ""grand prix national de la photographie" and is named
"commandeur des arts et des lettres"
1987-89 awarded kulturpreis in Germany and Guggenheiminn in the USA
1989 publish 'close up '
1990 receives the Hasselblad award
1993 movie ' in & out fashion '
1994 publish ' in & out of fashion '
1999 movie ' Messiah '
William Klein has directed more than 250 commercials for television and
cinema since 1972
Opening reception 11 september 2003
FIFTY ONE FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY
ZIRKSTRAAT 20
2000 ANTWERPEN
BELGIUM
T:32-3-2898458
F:32-3-2898459