Painted contacts (2019 editioned C-prints)
William Klein reengages with some of his strongest images, translating his iconic painted contacts into over-sized enlargements and releasing artworks that had previously been reserved for museum exhibition. At over two metres long, these supersized C-prints render the artist’s brush strokes larger-than-life and immerse you in William Klein’s world.
Smoke + Veil (x3) (Vogue), Paris 1958, printed 2019 by Artworks
Limited edition Lightjet c-print from unique painted contact
Frame size: 67.5 x 80.5 inches
Edition of 3
Muhammad Ali, Miami 1964-2001, printed 2019 by Artworks
Limited edition Lightjet c-print from unique painted contact
Frame size: 67.5 x 80.5 inches
Edition of 6
Club Allegro Fortissimo, Paris 1990-2001, printed 2019 by Artworks
Limited edition Lightjet c-print from unique painted contact
Frame size: 67.5 x 80.5 inches
Edition of 6
Look Left, London 1998-2006, printed 2019 by Artworks
Limited edition Lightjet c-print from unique painted contact
Frame size: 67.5 x 80.5 inches
Edition of 6
Gun Gun Gun, New York 1955-2001, printed 2019 by Artworks
Limited edition Lightjet c-print from unique painted contact
Frame size: 67.5 x 80.5 inches
Edition of 6
Bus 19, London 1989-2003, printed 2019 by Artworks
Limited edition Lightjet c-print from unique painted contact
Frame size: 67.5 x 80.5 inches
Edition of 6
Gun 1, New York 1954-2004, printed 2019 by Artworks
Limited edition Lightjet c-print from unique painted contact
Frame size: 67.5 x 80.5 inches
Edition of 6
Buicks, New York 1955-1995, printed 2019 by Artworks
Limited edition Lightjet c-print from unique painted contact
Frame size: 67.5 x 80.5 inches
Edition of 6
Unique painted contacts
Fashion + light
...First, I would shoot the model. She then held the pose and we turned off all the lights in the studio. In a second exposure, lasting a few seconds, an assistant would use a flashlight to draw shapes in the air around the model’s body. The result was terrific, I thought. It brought those early abstract experiments into my fashion work.
- William Klein, 2017
Dorothy + big white circle, Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm
Dorothy blowing light smoke rings, Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm
Dorothy juggling white light balls, Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm
Dorothy + light dog, Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm
Dorothy + white light stripes, Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm
Dorothy + light coat, Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm
Dorothy arguing with Dorothy , Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Silver gelatin print, printed later.
Mounted to aluminium
50 x 60 cm
Dorothy + light face, Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm
Dorothy + light numbers, Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm
Dorothy + light outline, Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm
Dorothy + light newspaper, Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm
Dorothy shooting light from hip, Paris, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm
Dorothy + Light Hat profile, (Yves Saint Laurent), Paris by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
103 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 52 cm


Installation image from HackelBury Fine Art at Paris Photo, 2015
Fashion
‘At Vogue in 1956, Klein was encouraged to try his hand at fashion photography. He admired the controlled elegance and consummate technique of Irving Penn and Richard Avedon but on the whole he felt the studio was its own little bubble. So he pricked it, blowing up faces to emphasize the grain, asking models to suck on their cigarettes rather than holding them like quills.
Backstage in "Qui êtes-vous Polly Maggoo?", 1966 by Artworks
Silver gelatin print, printed later
50 x 60 cm
Barbara and Black Flowers, Paris (for Vogue), 1956 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
50 x 60 cm
Dorothy and Formfit (Vogue) Paris, 1960 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print
Mounted to aluminium
110 x 150 cm
Barbara and Coffee Filter, 1956 by Artworks
Silver gelatin print, printed later.
16 x 20 inches / 40 x 50 cm
Anne + Isabella + Mirror, Queensboro Bridge, New York, 1962 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
50 x 60 cm
Tatiana + Marie Rose + Camels, Morocco, (Vogue),1958 by Artworks
Silver gelatin print, printed later.
50 x 60 cm
Evelyn, Isabella, Nena + Mirrors New York (Vogue), 1962 by Artworks
Silver gelatin print, printed later
50 x 60 cm


Dorothy + Formfit (left) | Wings of the Hawk + Selwyn (right)
Abstract Photography
'...Then I realised that there was something that could be done with blurriness in photography…And I thought maybe this is a way out of the rut of geometrical forms, curves, straight lines, triangle and whatever.'
In 1952, Klein’s paintings were exhibited in Milan at the Galleria del Milione - which, by chance, led to his first real experiment in photography. He was preoccupied then with changing forms, with ominous geometrical shapes that could be used as murals. The Italian architect Mangiarotti saw Klein’s work and asked him to adapt it into reversible panels that could move or divide a room, creating many chance combinations and multiple patterns.
Blurred squares, Paris 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminium
75 x 95.5 cm (Edition of 15) / 120 x 156 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Turning black oval, Paris, 1949 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminium.
71.5 x 95 cm (Edition of 15) / 122 x 164 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Black egg swirling, Paris, 1949/1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminum.
71.5 x 95 cm (Edition of 15) / 122 x 164 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Horizontal small black balls, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminum.
75 x 110 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Traces of moving white balls on black, Paris, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminium
75 x 95 cm (Edition of 15) / 122 x 154 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Abstract #1, Paris, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminium
75 x 90 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Abstract #2, Paris, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminum.
75 x 90 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Dancing Sticks I, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminum.
75 x 90 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Dancing Sticks II, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminum.
75 x 90 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Abstract #5, Paris, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminum.
75 x 90 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Abstract #6, Paris, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 90 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Abstract #7, Paris, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
75 x 90 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Abstract #10, Paris, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminum.
75 x 93.8 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Abstract #11, Paris, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminum.
75 x 93.8 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Abstract #8, Paris, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminum.
75 x 90 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Black Knives, Paris, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminum.
67 x 90 cm (Edition of 15) / 120 x 160 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
Horizontal sticks, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later. Mounted to aluminum.
75 x 90 cm (Edition of 15) / 125 x 150 cm (Edition of 15) / 50 x 60 cm (Open Edition)
White balls on black, Paris, 1952 by Artworks
Gelatin silver prints, printed later. Mounted to aluminium.
75 x 154 cm (edition of 15)
Moving Diamonds, Mural Project, Paris by Artworks
Gelatin silver prints, printed later. Mounted to aluminium.
158.4 x 252 cm (edition of 15)


installation image from William Klein: Paintings Etc at HackelBury Fine Art, 2012
Broadway by light
Klein's first film Broadway by Light is a dizzying and dazzling study of a night in the life of New York's Great White Way. Focusing on the play of lights and shadows, colours and forms in motion, the camera jumps between the flashing bulbs and neons of Times Square's iconic advertising and the silhouettes of men at work on theatre marquees, as they re-arrange letters on the lightboxes, poised like acrobats on their stepladders.
Film Strips from Broadway by Light #1, 1958 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
105 x 79 cm (Edition of 30)
Film Strips from Broadway by Light #2, 1958 by Artworks
Archival inkjet print on gelatin coated Zerkall paper
105 x 79 cm (Edition of 30)
Film Strips from Broadway by Light #3, 1958 by Artworks
C-print, printed later
105 x 79 cm (Edition of 30)
Film Strips from Broadway by Light #4, 1958 by Artworks
C-print, printed later, mounted to aluminium
105 x 79 cm (Edition of 30)
London
Moscow
New York
'While journalism was stagnating into sentimentalism and spectacle, Klein had found a new approach. Openly subjective photography combined with vivid captions of insight and thoughtful revelation, leading the reader to the deeper truths of four very different postwar societies'
© David Campany/Contrasto, from William Klein: Paintings, Etc Published September 2012.
All rights reserved, not to be reproduced without prior permission.
Wings of the Hawk, 42nd Street, New York, 1955 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
72 x 105 cm (edition of 30)
Selwyn 42nd Street, New York, 1955 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
77 x 105 cm (Edition of 30) / 50 x 60 cm


Paris
Armistice Day, Paris (Le Petit Magot, Paris), 1968 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
50 x 60 cm
Dance Group La La La Human Steps in Metro, Paris, 1991 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
50 x 60 cm
Police in front of the Sentate, Paris, 1989 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
50 x 60 cm
Rome
Red Light, Piazzale Flaminia, Rome, 1956 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
50 x 60 cm
Tokyo
Big Business Cocktail Ceremony, Tokyo, 1961 by Artworks
Gelatin silver print, printed later
50 x 60 cm