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Steven Klein is not the first photographer to merge fashion photography with art—and to have both art critics and the editors at Conde Nast take his work seriously. But he may be the only one to bring both a sporting and a philanthropic dimension into that picture.
Klein is known for edgy, conceptual, irreverent work, and is considered by many to have outclassed the sexually ambiguous, slightly creepy trends of the 1990s. His work is sexual and certainly has its dark side, but not the spooky, smirky quality of his predecessors. Instead of a lifeless, vague existential threat, it expresses a wired, intense, unconventional grace. Even when his subject is slummy glamour it is supple and animated, rather than angry or cynical.
Klein is well known for photographic portraits of such celebrities as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Justin Timberlake, Ethan Hawke, and David Beckham. His many shots of Madonna include the famous 58 page series for W Magazine of Madonna with six stallions. (It was done after she had her riding accident.) With and without Madonna, Klein has long had an interest in photographing horses.
It comes as no surprise that Kelly Klein, a showjumper, a board member of the Hampton Classic, a photographer and someone who knows about fashion, would have recognized his talents. “About ten years ago I bought one of his horse prints. Living with it, I grew to appreciate his work even more, and eventually I asked him to photograph some of my own horses,” Kelly told me before the start of the Hampton Classic, “I have the photographs hanging in my home. I love his big horse pictures. They are visually about the size of the animal and very graphic. I also love his fashion work. It is modern and different and the sets are totally original.”
This year’s Hampton Classic poster is a photograph Steven Klein shot at the Classic in 2004, and was chosen by committee from the submissions. It pictures, starkly and dramatically, in black and white, a horse’s neck and braided mane. It is only the second time in the 32 year history of the Classic that a photograph has been used for the poster. Interestingly, that one other poster photograph looked more like a gorgeous painting—but there is nothing ambiguous about the Klein photograph. You know this is a serious photographer totally engaged with his subject. Klein creates ravishing vignettes for his fashion work, but here he is visually direct, rendering pared down beauty and strength. The horse, unlike mere rock stars, needs no enhancement.
Steven Klein has also donated a huge print, four feet wide and five feet high, of the poster photograph to the Classic. Currently displayed at the Fendi boutique in the Grand Prix Tent in a stitched leather Sellaria frame designed by Fendi, it is being sold by silent auction with the proceeds to be used specifically for improvements to the footing in the Grand Prix Field.
“As an equestrian, Steven Klein knows the importance of excellent footing,” Shanette Barth Cohen, the executive director of the Hampton Classic commented. “The monies raised by auctioning his spectacular photograph will go a long way toward funding the aggressive footing improvement program the Hampton Classic has been implementing.”
At least in the Hamptons, Klein will be known for his generosity as well as his talent.