William Klein was a true pioneer — a multidisciplinary artist who worked across photography, painting, and filmmaking throughout his remarkable career. Known for his bold and unconventional approach, Klein's distinct visual language became a defining part of the 20th-century cultural zeitgeist and continues to resonate and influence today.

In late 1999, an archivist at Indiana University made an extraordinary discovery. Among items marked for disposal were dusty suitcases filled with thousands of stunning color slides, some dating back nearly seven decades. These 14,500 images were the life's work of Charles W. Cushman, an Indiana University alumnus and photographer, who had left the collection to the university after his death in 1972.