WILLIAM KLEIN: A HUNGER FOR LIFE

If the photographs of the late William Klein draw you in, it's because he always had that relentless curiosity both for people and for life itself – a trait that shone through and was infectious when viewing the exhibit, "All the World's a Stage" at the MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology).

- RICKY TOLEDO & CHITO VIJANDRE

Klein is one of the most influential photographers of his generation, represented in museums in the US and Europe, known for defying traditions to make ground-breaking work that profoundly changed visual culture.

The power of his images could be attributed to the fact that "he was never trying to be secretive. There would be eye contact, and often conversation. From a brief and excited exchange of glances, a photograph might emerge," according to curator David Campany, a renowned researcher in photography who knew Klein since 2008 till his death in 2022, and lists the artist's many talents: Street, abstract and fashion photographer; documentarian and feature filmmaker; painter, writer and illustrator.

His style is defined by complex compositions full of energy and an exuberant sense of presentation, informed by his early years as a painter interested in the scale of murals, architecture and cinema, but also from his joyous way of involving himself in the lives of others. He reached out, collaborating with fashion models, and inviting strangers on the street to pose and play for his camera.

His mentor was no less than the French painter, sculptor and filmmaker Fernand Léger, a multihyphenate himself whose intelligence and lack of pretense appealed to Klein who maintained a pragmatic ethos since then.