This week, I made a pilgrimage to the extensive, brilliant and inspirational Saul Leiter exhibition at the MK Gallery.
I also posted this most un-LinkedIn quotation of his on LinkedIn:
"In order to build a career and to be successful, one has to be determined. One has to be ambitious. I much prefer to drink coffee, listen to music and to paint when I feel like it… Maybe I was irresponsible. But part of the pleasure of being alive is that I didn’t take everything as seriously as one should."
My admiration for Saul Leiter goes back a few years. The book, ‘Early Color’ was my gateway drug. His use of colour, composition and atmosphere was different to anything I had seen before. He truly was a pioneer in colour photography.1
In 2012 I backed the film about him, ‘In No Great Hurry’ (if you squint hard enough you’ll see my name in the credits). In 2022 I was honoured to design the website for the Saul Leiter Foundation.
And then there is his personality and his outlook on life. I could dedicate a whole post to his quotations, but I’ll let you discover those yourself.2
For Christmas my wife generously gave me Saul Leiter’s ‘Centennial Retrospective’ (he was born in 1923) which brings all the strands of his work together in one place.
Michael Parillo writes in the introduction, “This is the story of a naturally brilliant, inherently iconoclastic, fearlessly imaginative, fundamentally lovable, and sidesplittingly funny person who was touched early and deeply by art…”
I spent romjul3 poring over the photos, paintings and text, and letting my mind wonder. Many of the works were familiar to me, but compared to the early Steidl publications, this book has printed the photos large which opened my eyes to new details that I hadn’t noticed before.
It would have made my 2023 photobooks of the year but that’s already been shared. So to compensate, the book has a post all to itself with random thoughts prompted by looking at his photos anew. I could have written more, but there’s no substitute for looking through the book yourself.
Indoors, he was a painter and photographer of the intimate. Outdoors, he strolled with his camera and made the ordinary look beautiful. Mostly within 10 minutes of his front door.
“I think mysterious things happen in familiar places. We don’t always need to run to the other side of the world.”
The clue is in the title
Blue Skirt, 1950s; or Horse, 1958; or Shoe, 1952… the subject is a small detail boxed into a corner by the foreground blur of a metal barrier or a bus. It’s perhaps the third or eighth thing you notice as your eyes move around the frame. But the recognition brings forth a smile.
Spectacles
Coachman, 1957; Driver, 1950s; or Bus, 1950s… a block of colour dominates but in each photo the spectacles are the defining feature. And that’s enough to get a sense of a person. An atmosphere, an age.
Seeing anew
I dwell on familiar photos seeing different things. The grain of colour in Taxi, 1957; or the wisp of atmosphere in Jean, ca. 1948
Waiter, Paris, 1959 and Paris, 1959 were probably taken within minutes of each other. The misty yellow hue and soft focus of a slowed-down instance in time.
In Paris, 1959 a woman writes a letter in a cafe. A man sits beyond, cigarette held between the tips of his thumb and index finger. There’s a rolled up newspaper, a finished coffee and, for the first time, I notice Saul’s reflection in the top right hand side.
How many times have I looked at this photo? Perhaps 50 times? And this is the first time I have noticed that it is part self-portrait.
I describe my Substack as “noticing things when there is seemingly nothing new to see.” This photo exemplifies my mantra. All good photos give you something new each time you look.
Mary, ca. 1947 is another very familiar photo but one which I linger on. For the first time I see “Israel Orphan Asylum”. A nod to the horrors that were uncovered in Europe two years before. In his keepsakes, Saul kept a photo of generations of rabbis from the paternal side of his family. All except his father were killed in the Holocaust.
Leiter liked using reflections to take you away from the every day and into a whole new way of seeing. Each fragment is recognisable but you have never seen them together as a whole before.
His isn’t the street photographer that bustles in, clicks, changes the air and then walks away. He is the unobtrusive observer who floats into a situation, quietly presses the shutter and drifts away without influencing the movement of the scene. He is unheard, unnoticed, and not missed when he is gone.
Fashion
His fashion work (predominantly for Harpers Bazaar) from the 50s and 60s show traits of his familiar style. Mostly taken in the street. The reds, yellows, blurs, obstructions and reflections are all here. The difference is he is collaborating with others. His models are working with him. No longer is he the unobtrusive person that nobody notices.
His fashion photos feel like out-takes, models natural in their environment while Leiter observes and clicks when it feels right.
Former model, Grace Coddington, reminisced about a shoot with Leiter:
“After dressing in Vogue Studios, I was told to go out into adjacent Hanover Square, where he was waiting for me. After walking around the square several times, I went back into the dressing room, distraught at having somehow missed him, only to be told that Mr. Leiter was very happy with the picture he had taken.”
Saul Leiter: An Unfinished World is on at the MK Gallery until 2nd June 2024.
His books are best bought from an independent bookstore (such as Toppings & Co in Bath) as Jeff Bezos has quite enough money already.
Further reading:
on The Genius of Saul Leiter and on Searching for Saul Leiter.William Eggleston and Stephen Shore are often granted the honour of being ‘pioneers in colour photography.’ They were the first to be recognised with large exhibitions, but it was Saul Leiter (along with Helen Levitt, Ernst Haas and Fred Herzog) who first began experimenting with colour in the 50s. Twenty years ahead of them.
A good place to start is the beautifully designed and handy book, ‘All About Saul Leiter’. It has a good selection of his photos, paintings and quotations.
This is so gorgeous ... I traveled thanks to your edition to another time ...
I really took the time to look at all the details. Thank you for sharing Andrew!
This is really the content I am looking for on Substack.
Wonderful post, Andrew! Thanks for pointing out that self portrait of his with the woman in the coffee shop. Like you, I’ve seen in so many times and missed it too. What I love about Saul’s work is the invitation to look deeper into quiet pictures. I’m so glad he remained true to his values and that is what makes his body of work endure. Thank you for sharing!