The Incomprehensible of
William Klein's New York
The meaning of what Klein himself once said "make photographs as incomprehensible as life" is in New York
William Klein. New York. (1954-55)
Vulgar, theatric, screaming, harsh, mix-up-every-genre-every-so-called-technical-error-every-subject-matters --- The words you use to describe William Klein's works is the words you describe New York.
And from all of his works, these words is the richest when we look at Klein's New York photo book, 'Life is Good & Good for You in New York'.
William Klein. New York. (1954-55)
William Klein. Little Italy, New York. (1955)
Klein's New York was made in 1954-1955 when Alexander Liberman, photo editor of Vogue US hired him as a staff photographer and also pushed Vogue to finance Klein's project to walk around taking photos of New York City. The attitude behind this project was, Klein once told Vogue US colleague “New York is a slum, You guys live on Fifth Avenue… You don’t know New York. I know New York, I’ve been walking my ass off.” Despite studying art in Paris, Klein was a boy from Southern Harlem with grandpa opened a shop at Delancey Street, he knew what he saying.
As a New Yorker's lens he claimed, Klein took a blur, grain, out-of-focus, explicit version of New York. It consisted of kids playing with (toy?) gun, man pointing a (toy?) gun at smiley kids, photos of people staring at the camera with various reaction, the violent news in front-page newspaper, the chaotic of streets, the overwhelming of signs, etc, etc, etc. Along with photos are excessive-vibe editing that turn table of 'good photo book' rulebooks and self-design that exaggerate the messiness. With high-contrast dummies that Klein made with Vogue photostat machine, surely it didn't got published in Vogue US nor any US publisher at that time. So the first edition of Klein's New York book, 'Life is Good & Good for You in New York', was printed by French publisher.
Klein's Paris, Tokyo, Moscow, Rome photos were better composed unarguable but for me, Klein's New York is alive as a New Yorker at its guts. Klein's New York was not made by observing, but by interacting. Looking at 'Life is Good & Good for You in New York' is not like walking around like God invisible observes these beautiful moment fraction of earth, but to walking around like person who sees lots of things happen with non-perfect eyes and interacts with lot of others in one amount of time.
So apart from his marvelous fashion photography and beautiful photographs from magnificent cities, if we spend sometimes really take a looks at Klein's New York era, we see the starter point of what it means when he said he please to "make photographs as incomprehensible as life", how he combine all his skills to conveyed extreme version of it through all of the process from shooting to book-making, and by that, how the work breaths the life like one of us.
William Klein. Down From My Hotel Window, New York. (1954)
William Klein. Grainy profiles, New York. (1954-55)
William Klein. St. Patrick's Day, New York. (1955)
William Klein. Pray-Sin, New York. (1954)
William Klein. Elsa Maxwell's Toy Ball. (1955)
William Klein. Hamburger 40$, New York. (1955)
William Klein. Urinals, New York. (1954)
William Klein. Office Girls Outing, New York. (1955)
William Klein. Gun, Gun, Gun, New York, Etats-Unis. (1955)
William Klein. Atom Bomb Sky, New York. (1955)
William Klein. Boy + 1$, New York. (1955)
William Klein. 5-D Gas, New York. (1955)
William Klein. Upper Broadway, New York. (1954)
William Klein. Love, New York, (1954-55)
Reading Note
Rachel Small fun, cozy and informative interview with William Klein on Interview Magazine.
Writing about Klein's 'Life is Good & Good for You in New York' on Aperture By David Campany in 2021, year before he curated YES: A retrospective.
How YES: A retrospective is a homecoming exhibition by Jane L. Levere on The New York Times
And Vince Aletti for The New Yorker promise us that William Klein's Pictures Will Still Knock You Out
