Born in 1928 in New York City, William Klein studied social sciences at City College of New York and art at the Sorbonne, Paris. Klein studied painting with Fernand Leger in Paris and soon after began to teach himself in photography. Klein worked as art-director for Vogue magazine and as a free-lance photographer for Domus in addition to working as a painter, graphic designer and filmmaker. In 1954 Klein began photographing in New York City and produced unusual and innovative fashion photography for Vogue and other magazines using telephoto and wide-angle lenses outside a studio setting.
By the mid 1960s Klein gave up photography for filmmaking and has completed over 20 films since then. He returned to still photography in 1978 and has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Prix Nadar, Paris, the Top Photographer Award, Cologne and the Grand Prix, Festival International de Tours. Klein's work has been exhibited in Europe, Asia and the United States. The artist currently resides in Paris.
Selected Collections:
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico