Saul Leiter: Early Color

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I like a lot of things about 'Early Color', but one of the things that I find most impressive is how essential color is to these images. This might sound obvious, but Leiter is one of relatively few photographers I know whose color work could only work in color. That's not to say that the interplay of colors is the only thing worth looking at in Leiter's photography. Far from it.Nothing about the photographs in 'Early Color' is accidental, and very little is conventional either, especially as regards framing and composition. 'Looking down' is taken from an elevated position, and shows two people on a city street. What might have been a relatively conventional shot is subverted by Leiter's decision to capture them at the very edge of the frame, leaving the majority of the image as a dull grey wash. The walkers are almost out of the picture by the time the shutter is tripped, just about to walk under (or into?) an irregular blue-green diagonal line. Perhaps scaffolding, perhaps the lip of a shopfront marquee, or perhaps the film rebate.

Saul Leiter: Early Color - ARTBOOK|D.A.P. Saul Leiter: Early Color - ARTBOOK|D.A.P.

Preview our Fall 2023 catalog, featuring more than 500 new books on art, photography, design, architecture, film, music and visual culture. When exploring the work of Saul Leiter and learning about his thoughts on photography, an aspect that shines through is that this was the work of a man who enjoyed photography for photography’s sake. You can feel it in his work, a calm enjoyment for the hidden beauty in the world. Samuel Koonst Gallery, New York, USA 1947 Abstract and Surrealist Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USALeiter was born in 1923 in Pittsburgh to a Jewish family in which the men found their calling in the rabbinate. His father, a theological scholar and “a light in the diaspora,” as Leiter put it in the 2013 documentary In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter, was a leader in the city’s Orthodox Jewish community. Leiter was meant to continue that lineage, but he left his Cleveland seminary at age 23 and took a bus to New York City to begin his career in art. Leiter's place is now assured. He will forever be known as one of the first photographers to use color in a serious, artistic way. Meticulously printed, his pictures use muted colors...that help tamp down the volume and motion of frenetic city streets. His prism tempers the more anxious, acerbic portrayal of city life offered by his peers Robert Frank and William Klein...Leiter's photographs are as likely to be compared to abstract expressionist painters like Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman or Richard Pousett-Dart. The three photos I have chosen to include portray his use of abstraction to distort reality while also illustrating the isolated, private lives of the people on the streets of New York. The photograph Mondrian Worker evokes this picturesque, painting feel because he not only uses this flattening, layering technique which gives it a painting look, but he also titles it after Piet Mondrian, an abstract painter known for his work with shapes and color. The photo of the woman waiting also utilizes abstraction by including the metal bars in front of the woman standing below. It creates a frame for the photograph, creating a new perspective for the viewer to look through. Lastly, the photograph of the window is another example of an abstract photograph because it distorts reality because it is hard for the viewer to really know understand what they are looking at.

Early Color by Saul Leiter | Goodreads

Barbara Hatch. Exhibits color work in Emerging Talent group show, selected by art critic Clement Greenberg, at Kootz Gallery, New York. Primarily uses newly launched Leica M3 camera during this period.I really enjoyed reading your concluding assessment of Leiter and his kind of loneliness that also allows for connections. Your reference to Levitt’s understanding of Jewishness as not exclusive works very well for Leiter, especially in the way he seems to invite viewers to participate with him in his exploration of the world of color as seen through the camera’s lens. I agree that the digital has changed a lot and viewing images through our phones in the palms of our hands makes for a different engagement with the world around us. Maher, James. “Saul Leiter – A Master of Color Photography.” New York Fine Art Photography and Portraiture Services , James Maher Photography, 7 Jan. 2019, www.jamesmaherphotography.com/street_photography/saul-leiter/. work included in group exhibition Appearancesat Victoria and Albert Museum, London, with accompanying book by Martin Harrison. When Color Was New, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA 2006 In Living Color: Photographs by Saul Leiter, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milkwaukee, USA (solo)

Saul Leiter: Early Color: 9783865211392 - AbeBooks Saul Leiter: Early Color: 9783865211392 - AbeBooks

This is an excellent project statement with three really good photographs by Saul Leiter to explore and discuss. When you do, pay attention to the titles (certainly the reference to Mondrian is important and shows Leiter’s interest in pursuing painting). I think that the argument you make about Leiter’s exploration of the streets of NYC is compelling. You need, however, to break up that very long first paragraph into around three shorter ones that will allow you to clarify the various points that you are making (and eliminate some redundancy).

receives funding from Mobil Artists in Residence Program to work in North Sea region, photographing an oil platform and coastal communities.