Author Description

William Klein is a cult figure in photography and film and, although long noted as a painter, his early work has remained largely unseen for over sixty years. This book presents a selection of extremely rare Klein paintings from the late 1940s and early 1950s. It also includes projects for murals, some of which executed on a monumental scale for the first time, Lettrist works, fashion photographs and Printed Contacts. The show also maps a decisive moment in the artist's development: in 1952. While photographing his painted Turning Panels commissioned by architect Angelo Mangiarotti, Klein captured the blur of objects in movement. The incident set the artist off on a series of experiments in the dark room, in which he developed the blueprint of his photographic abstraction. Giving a new perspective on his entire career, this book clearly portrays the foundations of Klein's unique visual language as his trajectory is traced through painting, architecture, photography, books, and film.