Month: September 2022

Hughie Lee-Smith- Leaving History Behind

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

Show seen- Hughie Lee-Smith @Karma

Who?

That’s probably the first thought coming to the minds of most reading the name Hughie Lee-Smith. I’ll admit his name was new to me, too, when I came across a thumbnail sized repro of one of his Paintings in a listing for a new show of his work. That was enough to draw me down to Karma’s East 2nd Street space to see Hughie Lee-Smith. Having seen said show, the mystery is now how Hughie Lee-Smith has remained such a well-kept secret during his lifetime (1915-1999), and still, 23 years after his passing.

Hughie Lee-Smith, Self-Portrait, 1964, Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches.

Beginning to think over what I saw, I felt his work springs from a solid base of influences. For example, his 1964 Self-Portrait vaguely echoed that of another, at least for me.

Edward Hopper, Self-Portrait, 1925-30, Oil on canvas. Seen at the Whitney Museum.

Both Artists strike a 3/4 pose, though their bodies are positioned differently, both wear a jacket, shirt and tie, and both look out at the viewer- Mr. Hopper directly. Mr. Lee-Smith looks somewhat through the viewer it seems to me.

The Birds, 1955, Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches.

I’ll admit I have a weakness for Painters who evoke feelings similar to those I get when I look at Hopper, Balthus or Giorgio de Chirico, and I get them when I look at Mr. Lee-Smith’s work, but it’s more than that. Mr. Lee-Smith uses some of their devices- de Chirico’s buildings, banners, deserted spaces, Hopper’s lone figures, Balthus’s female poetry, to the point that the visual evidence says they were influences. Then, he takes them someplace else. He makes these elements part of his own visual vocabulary, not the end point. Mr. Lee-Smith’s end results are different and resolutely his own. His work stands on its own considerable merits.

Aftermath, 1960, Oil on linen canvas, 30 x 46 inches. Mr. Lee-Smith is a master of scenes like this in my view. There’s so much about this that intrigues, from the encroaching shadow to the globes and ribbon, which add somewhat incongruous “celebratory elements,” to the still-standing buildings in the background. And mostly, “Aftermath” of what? A portrait of urban decay? A meditation on death? Or…?

At Karma, the 34 Paintings on display make the case for him as a real omission from the canon of 20th century American Painting. Painting after Painting draws the viewer in, then holds his or her gaze indefinitely. Each work is open-ended. Each feels like a moment frozen in time, a snapshot of a dream, or a memory. Like a dream or a memory, images from one place or time often collide with others creating a scene that’s not “real.” For me, at least, I don’t consider them “surreal.” They manage to hold on to too much that is all to real in the world- crumbling walls, signs of decay, and elements that were the New Topographic Photography movement’s meat.

Untitled (Urban Landscape), 1975, Oil on linen, 32 x 26 inches.

I suspect that a number of museums who don’t own his work will be looking to acquire it.

Festive Vista, 1980, Oil on canvas, 15 x 13 inches. Already in a museum- The Studio Museum of Harlerm’s Permanent Collection. The arched windows and streamers are similar to those seen in de Chirico, the view reminiscent of Hopper, but what Mr. Lee-Smith does with this makes it his own. Targets and streamers recur in his work, as already has been seen.

Currently, his work is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Studio Museum of Harlerm and SFMoMA, among others. He is, also, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (they own a Watercolor, acquired in 1994, and 3 Lithographs, acquired in 1943 and 1999), though he is not in MoMA or the Whitney. So, it comes as no surprise that the Karma show is the first substantial show of Hughie Lee-Smith here in 20 years. Not a surprise but unfortunate.

Pumping Station, 1960, Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches.

It shows convincingly that his work speaks fluently to today’s viewer, particularly at a time of recent forced isolation. 

Outing, c.1970, Oil on canvas, 26 x 36 inches. The woman on the right strikes a pose similar to those seen on more than a few mast heads. I wonder if the male figure is  a “Self-Portait” or a surrogate.

Whereas Mr. de Chirico used mannequins and creatures of his own invention as surrogates, Mr. Lee-Smith uses people. Usually alone, or alone together in groups, in a number of these works which serves to neutralize the metaphysical air that surrounds Mr. de Chirico’s early work to 1920 or so. This humanizing shows man (or woman) caught between nature and the world he’s constructed, which is often seen in disrepair in spite of the festive balloons and streamers the Artist often includes. Perhaps they are remnants of better times? That’s easy to relate to now, too.

Portrait of a Boy, 1938, Oil on canvas, 25 x 17 inches.

Mr. Lee-Smith was not to be confined to working in one genre. The show also included a few Portraits and Still-Lifes.

Cliff Grass, 1950, Oil on canvas, 26 x 32 inches. The geometry (not the light or color) brings my mind to later Cézanne when I see this.

Mr. Lee-Smith loves to juxtapose and include surprising elements that serve to up-end any easy “interpretation” of the composition.

Quandry, 1995, Oil on linen canvas, 50 x 46 inches. A late work.

Still there is nothing here that is not part of the world- natural or man-made. He seems to feel no need to delve into the supernatural, like the Surrealists.

The Platform, 1984, Oil on canvas, 22 x 32 inches.

Still, every element, wether seemingly major or minor, deserves attention. As I worked my way through the inventory of things included in his work- partially those that recur, one element that particularly caught my eye was Mr. Lee-Smith’s recurring brickwork. Each stone is very carefully rendered- whether in the foreground or background. In The Platform, the entire middle ground of a table, earth and grass is out of focus, yet each brick in the back is in sharp detail. Bricks are useful elements because they can be rendered in a number of ways- as a solid wall, or as a crumbling wall, for instance. Both are seen in the show, and both carry their own connotations with them, leaving the viewer to sort out what is what. That is the case for me after seeing this show. I’ll be weighing all the elements and thinking about these works until the next time I see Mr. Lee-Smith’s Art.

Untitled (Maypole), 1955, Oil on masonite, 19 x 13 1/2 inches.

Art history seems to have skipped over Hughie Lee-Smith during his lifetime in its rush to judgement. That’s another confirmation that it’s still too early to write the history of 20th century Art. Time will be the ultimate judge of all Art. More time needs to pass for it all to sit and see how it speaks to people over some time- at least 100 years.

I have a feeling time is going to be kind to Hughie Lee-Smith’s work, and a number of his pieces are going to continue to speak to viewers indefinitely. Hughie Lee-Smith at Karma is the first indication of this. It won’t be the last.

*-Soundtrack for this piece is “Red House” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience from Are You Experienced?

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Roger Maris: Against All Odds

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

I was a Yankee fan as a kid. In 1961, I saw my first Yankees game in person. My father, who was absent my entire childhood, didn’t take me. A neighbor took me with his kid. My seat was right next to one of the infamous steel pillars in the original Yankee Stadium that were death if you sat behind one. You’d see little. Being next to it partially blocked my view! Still, I remember watching Whitey Ford warm up right down in front of me. In those days the pitcher warmed up along the side lines. Not an ideal seat, but I was seeing the Yankees and what turned out to be one of the greatest teams ever. 

“The Ghosts of Yankee Stadium” may be the title of this Mural across the street from both the original Yankee Stadium and the new Stadium. It shows the heads of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Roger Maris (5th from the left), among others hovering over the top of the original Yankee Stadium as seen from beneath the elevated subway on April 15, 2010. The pillars I referred to, shown on the left in the rendering of the upper deck, ran all the way down to the ground level. Looking at this photo now, the top half is quite similar to the view I had of the field that day, framed by 2 pillars, and the roof. The pillars were finally removed when the Stadium was remodeled in 1973. Directly behind me, the original Stadium stood half-demolished.

The team was stacked from top to bottom. They carried no less than three terrific catchers- Yogi Berra, Elston Howard, both all-time legends, and Johnny Blanchard, who as the 3rd stringer still managed to hit 21 home runs in 1961. An amazing feat, but far from the most amazing feat someone on that team accomplished.

Edward “Whitey” Ford on the mound of the original Yankee Stadium for the last time, September 21, 2008, before the final game played at the Stadium.

Edward “”Whitey” Ford was their ace pitcher. He was the epitome of smooth. A classy, unflappable, lefty with flaming white hair. Another Yankee legend having a great year. In 1961, he went 25 and 4 and won the Cy Young Award. He was one of EIGHT 1961 Yankee All-Stars, and 3 Hall of Famers.

Yogi Berra stands at home plate at the original Yankee Stadium, where he where he played for much of a legendary career, for the last time before the final game played there, September 21, 2008.

Elston Howard led the team with a .348 batting average, forcing the legendary catcher Yogi Berra to play left field.

Life, August 18, 1961. Photo by Philippe Halsman over a Babe Ruth Photo by William Greene. In the article inside, with 40+ games left in the season, Life said the odds were 4-1 against Roger Maris breaking the record. Mantle had a 50-50 chance.

At the core of the Yanks that year were Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. The “M&M Boys” as they were known. Good friends, as the season went on and it became apparent both of them had a legitimate shot at Babe Ruth’s 1927 record of 60 home runs in a season, the media painted them as rivals for Babe’s crown.

Drafted by the Yankees and raised in their system, Mickey was hugely popular when I was a kid- The most popular athlete in NYC. Roger Maris came to the Yanks later in his career in a trade. This set him up as a usurper to native son Mantle as they were going neck and neck to lead the team in home runs as summer became early fall as both chased the immortal Bambino, Babe Ruth’s record of 60 homers. Mantle was the golden boy of the Yankees, Joe DiMaggio’s successor in center field. Roger Maris wasn’t even a home-grown Yankee, having come to the team from Kansas City a few years before.

“Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were much alike on one level, both coming from the Midwest, raised in working class families, with similar high school athletic stardom, and both marrying their high school sweethearts. Yet, in terms of personality and lifestyle, they were quite different. Mantle was more outgoing and gregarious than Maris, and liked being in the limelight. Though he played it humbly, Mantle really loved the media attention and he wanted the adulation. Maris only wanted to play baseball; he didn’t want the celebrity that might come with breaking Ruth’s record, and he especially did not want the press attention that hounded him that summer1.”

The Mickey Mantle Monument in Monument Vallery, seen in the original Yankee Stadium before the final game played there, September 21, 2008.

The fans were intensely behind Mickey Mantle as their choice to break the Babe’s record. As the new-comer, Roger Maris felt their wrath, from booing to phone threats, as well the unconscionable intrusions and wrath of the press. Things were getting hot and heavy, something Roger Maris wanted no part of. David Halberstam wrote of what Roger endured in 1961 in his book, October, 1964–

“…The more he [Maris] became the story, the warier he became. The Yankees, completely unprepared for the media circus, gave him no help, offered him no protection, and set no guidelines. They let him, stubborn, suspicious and without guile, hang out there alone, utterly ill prepared for this ordeal; they never gave him a press officer to serve as a buffer between him and the media, or even set certain times when he would deal with the reporters, so what it would not be a constant burden. They did not filter requests, or tell him who he might trust and whom he might not or which requests were legitimate and which were trivial. Under all this pressure, Maris grew more and more irritable. He found that he could go nowhere without a phalanx of journalists….”

And, there was the non-existent “feud” with his friend Mantle some of the media concocted that didn’t exist…

Mickey Mantle got an infection in his hip and wound up in the hospital on September 28th, missing the last week of the regular season. Mantle, who had won a Triple Crown in 1956 (highest batting average, most homers & rbi’s), wound up second on the team in batting average and homers with .317 and was stopped at 54 homers, the most he ever hit in one season. It was now Roger’s record to win or lose. The press continued to give him a very hard time as the scrutiny intensified. Maris’s hair fell out in patches. But, he stuck it out. His attitude was “I’ll show them.” Maris hit #60 to tie the Babe on September 26th. Then, in the final game of the year (talk about pressure!), on October 1st, he hit his 61st, as I watched on tv.

Roger Maris being pushed out of the dugout after hitting #61, October 1, 1961. You can also see the pillars behind him I was stuck next to earlier that year. *UPI Photo

Typically, after he hit it, his teammates had to push him out of the dugout to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd. He. barely made it to the top step before quickly going back down.

The original Yankee Stadium at 1:40pm on September 21, 2008, the afternoon of the final game ever to be played in “the House that Ruth Built” that evening.

Fast forward to September 21, 2008, when something unprecedented happened. The Yankees played their final game at the original Yankee Stadium before it would be torn down and they would move into a new Stadium across the street. I was there for both the final game at the original Stadium, (built in 1923, “the House that Ruth built,” the home to an incredible amount of baseball history), and the first game played across the street at the new Stadium in spring, 2009. 

Baseball heaven. Babe Ruth & Roger Maris once stood here. The view standing in right field looking towards home plate at the original Yankee Stadium before the final game, September 21, 2008.

Before the final game they actually allowed fans on the sacred field- unprecedented in modern times. The same field that Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Roger Maris and countless others had played on. As I walked slowly around the entire field, which I still can’t believe I actually did. I stopped in right field and stood there taking in the view. The same view Babe Ruth and Roger Maris, both right fielders, had. I was wearing my number 9 Roger Maris Yankee jersey. A newspaper photographer came up behind me and asked me to stand still. He shot me from behind looking at the huge stadium in front of me on its final day- showing #9 in its old right field stomping grounds. Then, I picked up my camera and took the picture above of the view I had looking in to home plate. If there’s such a thing as “baseball heaven,” this is it. 

The last game at the original Stadium is about to get underway as former Yankee greats from different periods stand at their former positions, September 21, 2008.

Being on the field was unforgettable. Then, later that night, the Yankees introduced an amazing array of former players, culminating with Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford, both making their final appearance on the field where so much of their legendary careers took place. Roger Maris, who passed away in 1985 at the age of 51, was not among them. Neither was Mickey Mantle, who died in 1995 at 63. 

All of this came back to me tonight, September 29, 2022, after current Yankee Aaron Judge hit his 61st home run of 2022, tying Roger Maris’s American League record. So far, Roger Maris’s record has stood for an ironic 61 years. Consider this- Babe Ruth’s record 60 home runs in 1927 stood for 34 years, until Roger Maris in 1961. Also ironically, Aaron Judge wears 99, Maris wore 9. 

I was struck by some strange feelings that really have nothing to do with Aaron Judge- an amazing player, beloved by teammates and fans. He stands a good chance of breaking the record. I hope he does and keeps going. Roger Maris’s wife and his son, Roger, Jr. were at the game. After the game Roger, Jr said that, in his opinion, if he hits #62, Aaron Judge should be recognized as the true all-time single season home run record holder- and not Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, who each hit more than 61 in a season, because each have been mentioned as possible drug users. Personally, I agree with Mr. Maris.

Watching the aftermath (I missed seeing Mr. Judge hit it live) tonight, and the interviews, my thoughts turned to Roger Maris. I’m not a believer in halls of fame. They’re too subjective. Someone worthy always gets left out. To this day, the powers that be have deemed Roger Maris not worthy of “enshrinement” in Cooperstown. Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle are both enshrined there. Aaron Judge may be one day. 

“Against All Odds.” Roger Maris’s plaque in Monument Valley in the original Yankee Stadium, September 21, 2008. The plaque, installed a year before he died, a few hundred feet to the left of where his 61st home run landed, reads like a belated apology.

Still, nothing can take away what Roger Maris accomplished in 1961. Against all the odds, as his plaque in Monument Valley at Yankee Stadium says, he accomplished something extremely unlikely. I will never forget watching it all unfold, then seeing him do it on tv, making me a fan in the process. “I’ll show them,” was his attitude, and he did.

In a world given to unreasonable, personal attacks, bullying, and unbridled invasion of personal privacy for all of us, what a powerful example he set in overcoming all of it that continues to speak to me on so many levels.

Roger Maris 61 in ’61 US postage stamp issued September, 1999.

As I write this on September 29, 2022, Roger Maris is still the co-holder of the American League record, though it might be one of the last days that will be true. Though his “enshrinement” in baseball’s Hall of Fame seems unlikely now, Roger Maris’s accomplishment has long been, and eternally, enshrined in the Hall of Fame of Life, where great feats of intestinal fortitude and incredible perseverance live on to inspire others forever.

Written on my heart…My hand print created with Yankee Stadium dirt on the right field wall where it remained during the final game, September 21, 2008.

*- Soundtrack for this piece is “Home Run” by Joe Nichols from his 2022 album Good Day for Living.

Special thanks to Fluff.

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  1. https://pophistorydig.com/topics/tag/mickey-mantle-1961 ↩

William Klein- A Thousand Times YES

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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava

Show Seen- William Klein: YES @ ICP

William Klein, who passed away at 94 on September 10th, was a big name for so long, creating legendary and hugely influential PhotoBooks, Films, Fashion Photography, Paintings, Photograms, and on and on, that it seemed to me he was somewhat taken for granted over what turned out to be the last decade of his life. Case in point- I can’t remember the last big William Klein show in NYC. So, the International Center of Photography’s career retrospective, William Klein: YES, June 3rd to September 15th, was not to be missed. Due to circumstances out of my control (i.e. my new life), I managed to see it on its closing night, day 5 after the Artist passed.

Untitled (Blurred White Squares on Black and Orange Gel Sheet), c. 1952, Gelatin silver print with transparent orange filter, top, and Untitled (White and Yellow Moving Lines), c. 1952, Gelatin silver print with yellow paint.

Paintings, Collage, Photograms, bodies of b&w Street Photographs in NYC, Paris, Rome, Moscow and Tokyo, Fashion Photography, Film, color Photography, Painted contact sheets filled both gallery floors of the International Center of Photography’s fairly new Essex Street building. The show felt like it was the work of 6 or 7 Artists. Perhaps that’s why they named the show William Klein: YES Photographs, Paintings, Films, 1948-2013- as a reminder that ALL of this sprang from one unique Artist.

The earliest works on view. Untitled (Gymnasts), c. 1949, Untitled (Still life, lamp, and vase), c. 1949, Oil on wood- the others are all oil on canvas, Untitled (Gymnasts), c. 1949, and Untitled c. 1952, from left to right.

After studies with Fernand Léger, William Klein temporarily ignored his advice to get into Photography, Film and publishing, instead embarking on a career as an Abstract Painter during the height of the first wave of Abstract Expressionists. He managed to carve out a style that had elements of Mondrian but also showed an affinity for multi-layered compositions that would also be seen in his later Photography. It’s interesting that the two Gymnast Paintings, above, feature monochrome figures, also presaging his b&w Street Photography.

In 1952, an architect saw William Klein’s Paintings and asked him to adapt them to a room divider made of rotating panels. While Photographing the panels, Klein’s wife spun them. Fascinated with the effect, hep down his camera,  went into the darkroom and began experimenting with Photograms, like Man Ray before him, holding cards with cut out shapes over photo paper during long exposures.

While Photographing a piece he’d been asked to paint, William Klein was inspired to put his camera down and experiment in the darkroom with light on photo paper using long exposures. Man Ray had been among the first to explore Photograms, and Robert Rauschenberg would a few years later, but neither’s look like Mr. Klein’s. They found admirers among graphic designers, who featured them on magazine covers and record covers.

William Klein’s Photograms on the covers of Domus Magazine from 1955, 1959, and 1952, left to right.

His Painting turned out to open a door to his future when Alexander Lieberman, art director of Vogue saw a show of them in Paris and, impressed with his strong vision, saw a Fashion Photographer in him. William Klein, who was born in NYC before moving to Paris in 1946 to become a Painter came back to the City to work for Vogue. Along the way William Klein became Klein, and he broke as many rules shooting fashion as he did in his Art. He took models out of the studio and on to the streets and collaborated with them on shoots. Possibly as a result of this, Mr. Lieberman also funded William Klein’s desire to shoot the streets of NYC. The body of work that became Life is Good came into being, as did the Photographer being christened, “the angry young man of photography1.”

A wall of prints from the classic Life is Good & Good for You in New York, 1956, taken between 1954 and 1956. Almost all of the work in the show was from the William Klein Studio, and the prints were spectacular.

Filling two floors, almost all of the work on view was provided by the Artist, himself, most likely marking the final time he would be directly involved in a show of his work. The quality of the prints on view, many “printed later,” were of the highest order. The black & white prints were unforgettable- black could never be blacker, and many of the color Fashion Photos were printed at a large, even huge size, which made them even more stunning.

A timeless image of NYC, Selwyn, 42nd Street, New York, 1955 (printed 2016), Gelatin silver print. The play of light and shade in this incredible print is a subject all its own. I’m not sure black can be blacker than this.

The late Robert Frank is, possibly, the most influential Photographer of the past 60 years, but a very strong case can be made that William Klein is in that discussion. His Life is Good & Good for You in New York: Trance Witness Reveals, was published in 1956, 2 years BEFORE Mr. Frank’s seminal The Americans. Seen alongside the Frank book, Life is Good is a fascinating counterpoint, showing a different America than that seen in The Americans. Mr. Frank got a lot of grief for showing America as he saw it. Mr. Klein’s Life is Good shows gritty NYC as the melting pot it has long been where anything could happen at any moment. But it is his style and technique that ruffled many feathers. Rough, raw, out of focus, as dark as night, off kilter, lacking coherent compositions, grainy…were among the criticisms of those who were perhaps thinking that Henri Cartier-Bresson had discovered the only “true way” to take Street Photographs. But, there was method to his madness, and his methods resounded with many viewers right up to today.

The avant-garde William Klein. Another multi-layered composition. Atget, then Walker Evans took Photos of similar scenes before William Klein, and Richard Estes has spent a good deal of his career Painting them, as I showed a few months back.

Looking through Life is Good is always surprising, even when you’ve seen it before. Quite a few people smile, indicating life was, indeed, good for them, in spite of the rough and tumble settings. A number of others (upwards of 50% of his subjects?) look at the camera and many of those seem to be in cahoots with the Photographer. Many images work in multiple layers from foreground to back. Many show fleeting moments that in Mr. Klein’s hands become intriguing, if not “decisive.” There is a section of urban landscapes in the middle that show a bit of the influence of Walker Evans, but mostly serve to give the book a decidedly avant-garde feel that it retains today. His Photographs down through the years from the b&w shots of NYC of the mid-1950s up to his color work in Brooklyn in 2013 show the universality of modern human existence. Whereas Mr. Frank observes masterfully, Klein often interacts.

Flat Plan for Life is Good & Good for You in New York, 1955, Ink, pencil and colored pencil on paper.

Whereas The Americans remains hugely influential here in the US, and perhaps not as much in the rest of the world, Life is Good & Good for You in New York: Trance Witness Reveals, has been hugely influential around the world. It singlehandedly rewrote the possibilities of Street Photography. Perhaps its influence was felt nowhere more than it was in Japan. Daido Moriyama, a great Street Photographer in his own right, has created an important career exploring some of the ideas & techniques William Klein used in Life is Good, which served as an influence and a catalyst2, particularly his high contrast, motion blur and unusual angles. So have any number of other important Japanese Photographers from the late 1950s, on, not to mention numerous others everywhere else. Nakahara Takuma, with Mr. Moriyama one of the Photographers who produced the legendary Provoke Magazine beginning in 1968, wrote a lengthy article on William Klein in 1967. In it, he said about the reaction to Life is Good, “…its impact was unprecedented. The reaction could even be called panic.” And, “…(a number of) photographers…thought of Klein’s photography as an ‘impudent ‘ amateur game, as mere technical experiment. Immediately after New York was published, critical opinion was polarized; rather than photography, it was advocates for the other related genres, such as painting and film, who supported it most positively3.” A case could be made that a good deal of Japanese Photography since its publication bears its influence. “It is not so surprising, therefore, that his photography, as something so new, became extremely popular, especially among the young,” Nakahara Takuma said in the same piece. Pretty remarkable for the first PhotoBook by an untrained Photographer. 

Atomic Bomb Sky, New York, 1955 (printed 2012), Gelatin silver print. Of the millions of images I’ve seen of NYC in my life, I’ve never seen one like this.

It should also be noted that Life is Good & Good for You in New York: Trance Witness Reveals has never been published in the USA4! Early on, every publisher rejected it. The first edition was published by Editions du Seuil in Paris in 1956. William Klein followed Life is Good with books on Paris (2002), Rome (1959), Moscow (1964) & Tokyo (1964. It was reported that Klein took 50,000 Photos for it5.), each of which got a section in the show, each of which remains out of print and highly sought after. 

Antonia and Yellow Taxi, New York, 1962 (printed 2016), from Vogue, Pigment print. When I saw this shot at AIPAD in 2017, I realized I needed to do a deep dive into William Klein. I’m still exploring his huge oeuvre. A bit reminicient of Saul Leiter, perhaps?

Meanwhile, Klein had become a top Fashion Photographer.

Installation view. Paris, 1964-83, in the lower foreground and to the right, Life is Good/NYC behind, Painted Contact Sheets above, and a sliver of the large video projection screen, left. I remain no fan of “holes” in museums, including this one which spans the width of the entire floor, except for 2 narrow walkways on the sides. For me they are just expensive wasted exhibition space. I’m not sure they add anything to the show-going experience. In William Klein’s case, quite a bit more work could have been shown.

The second floor was largely devoted to Mr. Klein’s Film work, which is equally revered and important.

Filmstrip montage from Muhammad Ali: The Greatest, 1964-74, Directed by William Klein.

I will leave that for others who have studied it closer than I have to cover. One thing about them that stands out is that Klein repeatedly focused on important Black figures of the time- Little Richard, Muhammad Ali and Eldridge Cleaver among them. 

Tramway, Capellona, Rome, 1956, (printed 2013), Gelatin silver print. It’s just me, but my mind juxtaposes this with Robert Frank’s Trolley-New Orleans, 1955, when I see this work.

In the end, William Klein proves impossible to pin down. Each time I look through Life is Good, I pick up on a different thread and see things I didn’t notice previously. That’s true of much of his work.

Kiev Railroad Station, Moscow, 1959 (printed 1997), Gelatin silver print.

Breaking the rules was easier for him because he didn’t know all of them. William Klein shows that, even without training, an Artist’s creativity and vision can be enough to create important, lasting and influential Art.

6 Gelatin silver prints from Tokyo, 1961, including Tokyo Stock Market and Yoyogi Hairdressing School, Tokyo, upper far right and lower far right, printed later.

WK:YES will serve as a testament to his accomplishment over his sixty-five year career and a benchmark for all future William Klein shows. Most likely its soon-to-be-published 400 page catalog will serve as a beacon to influence still more people and aspiring Artists, adding to the incalculable number Klein already has. 

R.I.P.

*-Soundtrack for this piece is “All Blues” by the Miles Davis Sextet from Miles’ immortal Kind of Blue, 1959–

NighthawkNYC.com has been entirely self-funded & ad-free for over 7 years, during which over 275 full length pieces have been published!
I can no longer fund it myself. More on why here.
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Thank you!

Written & photographed by Kenn Sava for nighthawknyc.com unless otherwise credited.
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  1. Gernsheim, A Concise History of Photography, 1986, p.131 ↩
  2. https://time.com/3792413/william-klein-daido-moriyama-double-feature/ ↩
  3. Nakahara Takuma, “William Klein,” 1967, reprinted in Provoke, Art Institute of Chicago, 2016, p.362 ↩
  4. A facsimile version with every page Photographically reproduced, some reduced, in a smaller size book was published by Errata Editions, NYC in 2010. When I bought a signed copy of it, the seller reported that Mr. Klein looked at it curiously before signing it having not seen it previously. An indication that it was not an “official” edition of Life is Good. ↩
  5. Nakahara Takuma, “William Klein,” 1967, reprinted in Provoke, Art Institute of Chicago, 2016. ↩