SAUL LEITER

Posted on 2016-02-08

Saul Leiter moved to New York intent on becoming a painter, which he continued in parallel with his photography, yet ended up working for magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and British Vogue and became known for his fashion work.

As early as 1946, and thus two decades before the 1970s new colour photography school (William Eggleston, Stephen Shore et al), Leiter was using Kodachrome colour slide film for his free artistic shots, despite it being despised by artists of the day. Instinctively for him, colour was the picture.

“I don’t have a philosophy, I have a camera.” Saul Leiter

An iconoclast who pursued his vision through signature framing devices, bold hues and relective surfaces, Leiter manages to transform seemingly ordinary street scenes in close proximity to his New York apartment into visual poetry.

Opposite – Taxi, 1957

Exhibition runs through till April 3rd, 2016

The Photographers’ Gallery
16-18 Ramillies Street
London
W1F 7LW

thephotographersgallery.org.uk