William Klein

Series Site

On the occasion of the International Center of Photography (ICP)’s new exhibition, “William Klein: YES – Photographs, Paintings, Films, 1948-2013”, Anthology hosts screenings of a selection of Klein’s extraordinary films. Though he remains best known for his photographic work (despite a resurgence of interest in his moving-image work in recent years), Klein has made numerous films over the course of his career, which run the gamut from short and feature-length documentaries to peerlessly inventive fictional satires, as well as uncategorizable works such as his globe-spanning, Handel-themed essay film MESSIAH. Dizzyingly eclectic as they are, Klein’s films are united by the same sensibility that distinguishes his photography, which itself encompasses both street and fashion photography: above all, a unique fusion of the penetrating journalistic eye of Weegee, Robert Frank, Helen Levitt, and others, and an unbridled, savagely satirical expressionism that’s more reminiscent of an artist like George Grosz.