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William Klein Quotes

Powerful William Klein for Daily Growth

I grew up in Manhattan. For Manhattanites, Brooklyn was the sticks, a second-rate civilization. My friends and I, we were so snobby. Living in the Bronx or Brooklyn was incredible... for me, that was like a foreign country.

- William Klein

Living, Country, Like, Manhattan

What's very funny is when you see amateurs filming something, they do some things no professionals would dare to do. They instinctively do things that are very avant-garde and useful.

- William Klein

Some, Very, Professionals, Amateur

I think it's obscene. I don't know how you support the monarchy. How can you do that?

- William Klein

Think, How, Monarchy, Obscene

I thought it would be good not to hide the fact that you're taking a photograph, and have people react and come in close and also make a commentary on what's being photographed: 'This is a photo, this is my point of view.'

- William Klein

Thought, Point Of View, Fact, Commentary

French photography was basically poetic, and mine was vulgar and brash and violent, except that there's never any violence in the photographs: it's only in the photographic style.

- William Klein

Violent, Mine, Poetic, Photographic

The kinetic quality of New York, the kids, dirt, madness - I tried to find a photographic style that would come close to it. So I cropped, blurred, played with the negatives.

- William Klein

New, Madness, Negatives, Photographic

I like festivals of all kinds: in 1969, I made a film about the first Pan-African festival in Algiers, which celebrated the countries that had been liberated 10 years earlier. There was a tremendous feeling of kinship.

- William Klein

Festivals, Been, About, Kinship

This is supposed to be the Big Apple, with neighborhoods where the houses are all good-looking and the skyscrapers and everything. But to me, New York is kind of shoddy and uncomfortable.

- William Klein

New, Big, Neighborhoods, Skyscrapers

I always dreamed of working in Paris, of going to the Coupole and slapping Picasso or Giacometti on the shoulder.

- William Klein

Paris, Always, Going, Shoulder

Leger was not only the first artist I ever met but also the first pop artist, and he blew our minds.

- William Klein

Artist, Also, Our, Blew

My sister was brilliant: she was in the 25 top math students in the country. When she finished college, I said, 'Spend a couple of months here in Europe. You'll get another take on life.' She never came - married some schmuck who made clothes for fat women on Seventh Avenue.

- William Klein

College, Country, Here, Schmuck

I had no real respect for good technique because I didn't know what it was. I was self-taught, so that stuff didn't matter to me.

- William Klein

Real, Had, Technique, Self-Taught

When I made 'Polly Maggoo,' it was more or less the end of this collaboration with 'Vogue' because I made a caricature of the editor-in-chief and the fashion people, so they didn't really adore me.

- William Klein

More, Caricature, Made, Vogue

I'm known for fashion photographs, but fashion photographs were mostly a joke for me. In 'Vogue,' girls were playing at being duchesses, but they were actually from Flatbush, Brooklyn. They would play duchesses, and I would play Cecil Beaton.

- William Klein

Play, Mostly, Cecil, Vogue

I find it satisfying that what I've done in photography has had so much influence in how people take photographs and what they look at and how they look at things.

- William Klein

People, Done, Had, Satisfying

In the late Fifties and early Sixties, I used to think that most of these fashion creators weren't that great, and if the photograph was good, it was mostly thanks to the photographer.

- William Klein

Think, Creators, Mostly, Sixties

In fashion, you have assistants, flashes; you can make sets. There are people running around doing things for you. But I can take it or leave it.

- William Klein

Doing, Assistants, Sets, Flashes

I always thought I was going to be an artist. I used to draw, and I would read Russian novels until 3 or 4 in the morning.

- William Klein

Thought, Always, Read, Novels

I did a film on Muhammad Ali before he was champion. I was there when he became champion in 1964. I was happy to be able to document the development of a real American hero.

- William Klein

Development, Before, Became, None

I was making a film on Muhammad Ali in 1964, and I went to Miami to film everything around the fight for the world championship with Sonny Liston. I had the good luck of flying down to Miami, and there was one empty seat, and the guy sitting next to this empty seat was Malcolm X.

- William Klein

Luck, Next, Had, None

I was fascinated by the Black Panthers because I'd been in contact with the Nation of Islam, thanks to Muhammad Ali, and their way of talking was that the whites were the devil, and they'd get rid of them once they took over.

- William Klein

Devil, Nation, Been, None

Fashion had no interest for me. I would take photographs in the studio. I would go back home, and my wife would say, 'What is the fashion like for this season?' And I would say, 'I have no idea.'

- William Klein

Wife, Like, Studio, Season

I grew up in New York, in a rough neighborhood where our biggest concern was not getting beat up. I was always far from the center of the Big Apple.

- William Klein

New, Big, Always, Neighborhood

The English are very exotic to me.

- William Klein

Me, English, Very, Exotic

My grandfather and his wife came to America at the end of the 19th century from Hungary. Everyone started out on the Lower East Side. They became embourgeoise and would move to the Upper West Side. Then, if they'd make money, they'd move to Park Avenue. Their kids would become artists and move down to the Lower East Side and the Village.

- William Klein

Became, 19th Century, Upper, Hungary

Fashion was more of a sideline for me. I did it for the money.

- William Klein

Money, Me, More, Sideline

Don't have rules, taboos, or limits.

- William Klein

Rules, Taboos, Limits

I was a very clumsy Jewish kid.

- William Klein

Kid, Jewish, Very, Clumsy

For my first book, 'New York,' I had one camera and two lenses. It was fotografia povera.

- William Klein

Book, New, Lenses, Camera

When you use film, you use accidents, but there aren't any accidents with digital photography. I don't mind that it's easy. But I do mind that there is a sort of consensus with the camera and the subject and the light, and you look at something, and you photograph it, and you get what you see.

- William Klein

Mind, Digital, Use, Camera

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