William Klein: Painted Contacts

William Klein's "Contact Sheets" series is a unique blend of painting and photography, creating large-scale works that combine bold colors and enlarged black-and-white images from his career. The series was inspired by the traditional process of selecting images in film photography and aims to celebrate the joy of capturing a moment.

Format: Hardback
Length: 140 pages
Publication date: 04 March 2021
Publisher: Prestel

When William Klein was in the midst of reviewing other photographers' contact sheets for a film he was producing, he had the idea for this unique series. The works in this series, which draw inspiration from the era of film photography when photographers chose images by circling specific negatives on a contact sheet with vividly colored grease pencils, invent a brand-new type of artistic object that seamlessly blends painting and photography. The final products are enormous mural-sized works that feature bold, kinetic color frames that reimagine and enlarge black-and-white photographs from throughout Klein's career.

In this second life, Klein's renowned fashion and street photography, which is always gritty and bold, is given a new immediacy and relevance. Klein describes these works as "all brush strokes and jubilation" in his forward to this edition. The jubilation of painting recalls the celebration of taking the photo.

This series represents a groundbreaking fusion of two artistic mediums, challenging traditional boundaries and creating a new form of visual expression. Klein's innovative approach to photography and painting has had a lasting impact on the art world, and his works continue to inspire and captivate audiences today.

Weight: 980g
Dimension: 211 x 298 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783791387314