A Review: Master Motorsports Photographer Klemantaski

Review by Pete Vack

His father was Dutch, his mother Russian and he was born in Harbin, Manchuria. In 1928 at the age of 16, he traveled to England, taking the Trans-Siberian Railway across the Asian continent. There, he graduated from King’s College in London. Little wonder that Louis Klemantaski (1912-2001) was destined to do and see things with a unique perspective.

As Jim Sitz told this reviewer, “Klemantaski was an artist with a camera, not a merely a photographer with an artistic sense.” “Klem”, as he was called, was one of a number of great racing photographers of the twentieth century; some say the best of them all. In an age that would foster Kurt Worner, Jesse Alexander, Pete Coltrin, Bernhard Cahier, and Tom Burnside to name a few, that is saying something. Thankfully for us, in addition to interests in Ballet and the opera, Klemantaski also loved motor racing. Until 1967, when he ‘elected to simply step off the stage’, Klemantaski recorded the world of motor racing in the U.K. and on the continent, concentrating on real life and real people.

Photographs like this were what made Klemantaski famous. When the drivers began to cover their faces with Nomex in the mid-sixties and began to disappear down into the bodywork, the people element so eloquently captured by Klemantaski disappeared as well. This is Robert Arbuthnot, from a Scottish banking family, trying hard with the ex-Hans Reusch Alfa 8C35 (50013) at Brooklands on August 7, 1939.

Unbeknownst to most of us, Klemantaski actually began taking racing photos in 1935 and his style and skill emerged very quickly. His prewar photos are rarely seen, often overshadowed by his postwar photography. Both are used to great effect in this recent effort by Paul Parker, Master Motorsports Photographer Klemantaski, which follows his career of racing photography year by year and event by event. But make no mistake; this is not a biography of Klemantaski but a presentation of his work.

Parker has great credentials for the job; a longtime member of the Vintage Sports Car Club, he has written for Forza, Octane, Motor Sport and the Daily Telegraph. Parker has written text and captions that almost matches the mastery of Klemantaski’s photos. He can pack more information into a caption than anyone save our own Michael T. Lynch. In fact it was Lynch who recommended to us Parker’s previous work, Sports Car Racing In Camera, 1950-1959, (Haynes, 2010), which was another finely researched opus.

Klemantaski liked low angle shots, such as this one of Fangio at Reims in 1954 in the W196 streamliner. So not only was he right on the edge of the track, but often lying down as well. But to someone who was a passenger in four Mille Miglias, it was probably second nature.

Parker is particularly good with British subjects; here is a description of a Bugatti at Prescott on June 11, 1939:

Arthur Baron set the FTD at Prescott in his Bugatti T59 (59121) just 0.86 second outside of the official record. The Duke of Grafton had suffered a fatal crash in Chassis 59121 at the 1936 Limerick GP, and Baron had bought it afterwards. George Abecassis raced it postwar before selling it to Kenneth Bear, who also suffered a fatal crash in it during practice for the 1949 Jersey Road Race.

Or: Wetherby Speed Trails July 1939: Another of the many hillclimb and speed trials events of the era, this one at Wetherby Grange in Yorkshire. The 880 yard course was set up at the home of Bentley and Lagonda racer Sir Ronald Gunter Bt., and was used from 1934 to 1939. This Alfa Romeo is a Touring bodied 8C2300 (2111035) that was reportedly built by Alfa for the 1932 Mille Miglia. It was imported into England in 1937, and raced by George Bagratouni who enjoyed many success with it. “Bagratouni” was, in fact, a nom de course, his true identity was Prince George Imeretinsky (1897-1972), eldest son of their serene Highness Prince and Princess Imeretinsky. He was a Cresta champion, well known in Bentley racing circles and correspondent to various motoring journals.

Now those are captions! And Parker follows through, dealing with every one of the 300 plus photos in the same detailed fashion. Parker is obviously, and happily so, smitten with upper class lower royalty, British war heroes, and a time and place of fewer restrictions. He also points out, however, that Klemantaski was as interested in the little guy in racing as he was the overwhelming Silver Arrows.

Klemantaski always attended small events, particularly in the U.K. This is at the Bo’ness hillclimb in 1948, where run-what-you-brung often resulted in some ungainly specials, such as Ian Hopper’s Riley Kestrel chassis powered by a Triumph Dolomite engine with a body that just had no use for beauty.

And Parker excels in writing about people. Taking a cue from the many photos, Parker gives us details on drivers (and non-drivers), many of whom are as interesting as they are obscure:
*Tommy Sopwith, who competed for Ecurie Endeavor, was the son of the founder of Sopwith Aviation, famous for the Sopwith Camels.
*Alexander De Rahm was not a driver but a good friend of Prince Chula. He was highly gifted and constructed an amazing astronomical clock from Meccano bits and this 10 foot high masterpiece is now in Paris museum.
*Promising Auto Union driver Christian Kautz was educated at Cambridge, lived in Switzerland, and during the war was a test pilot for Lockheed in America, only to die at Bern in 1948 driving a Maserati.
*The subject of one of the most famous Klemantaski photos was Norman Wilson. He drove ERAs before the war and as a flight gunner was killed in a Lancaster bomber in 1942.
*Franco Comotti drove GP Talbots for Scuderia Materassi, the V12 Delage 145, and then Talbot Lagos. During the war he was working for the Allies and betrayed, then sentenced to death, but saved by the intervention of an Italian collaborator. Arthur Dobson was wealthy, an excellent professional driver who lost his money after WWII, took to drink and ended up working as a mechanic.
*Dorino Serafini survived a massive accident in his Maserati at Comminges in 1947, but came back to drive for Ferrari, supporting stars Villoresi and Ascari. Serafini died in 2000 at the ripe old age of 91.

Probably not the only photographer to record this accident, but arguably the best and most well-known. Peter Briand’s Cooper 500 had done a somersault to reach the roof in this spectacular fashion. Briand was thrown clear and had no injuries but the press had a field day.

Posted next to Klemantaski’s outstanding and unforgettable images, Parker’s informative and well researched text and captions propels this book into (as Klemantaski himself might have said), “another class entirely”.

The book is of course made possible by Peter Sachs and his Klemantaski collection. In the preface, Sachs explains how he became interested in motor racing through the early books of Klemantaski’s photos, and later, how he met the photographer and finally purchased the collection.

This shot does not fare well on the Internet unless we crop it. One of Klem’s most famous photos, this is Mike Hawthorn driving a Cooper Bristol apparently moving straight at the photographer. Hawthorn himself wondered how he didn’t run over Klemantaski. Such is the nature of the four wheel drift.

The book is also a credit to Quarto Publishing acquisitions editor Zak Miller and art director Cindy Samargia Laun, who put together a top quality volume which presents the work of both Parker and Klemantaski in the best possible manner. There is very useful index and a complete listing of all the photos by photo reference number; all are available for purchase from the Klemantaski collection at www.klemcoll.com.

If I had but one book to explain to a neophyte what racing was all about in the Twentieth Century, there could be few better choices than Master Motorsports Photographer Klemantaski.