Saul Leiter Jean PearsonArt Blart _ art and cultural memory archive

Exhibition dates: 24th January – 23rd April, 2025

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013) 'Jean Pearson' c. 1948 from the exhibition 'Saul Leiter - An Unfinished World' at Foam, Amsterdam, Jan - April 2025

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013)
Jean Pearson
c. 1948
From the series In My Room
Gelatin silver print
© Saul Leiter Foundation

Words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words, words.

So many words, so much verbiage about the work of American artist Saul Leiter (1923-2013).

I’d rather not add to that noise.

It is well to reinforce the meaning of an image with text but it is not necessary.

Just be aware …. of the beauty of the image and your feelings towards it.

Lucidly, appreciate the integrity of the image.

Nothing more but certainly nothing less.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

PS. It’s wonderful to see the earlier black and white work, breadcrumb trail of the colour work to come.

Many thankx to Foam for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

“Photographs are often treated as important moments, but really they are fragments and souvenirs of an unfinished world.”

Saul Leiter

“I may be old-fashioned. But I believe there is such a thing as a search for beauty – a delight in the nice things in the world. And I don’t think one should have to apologise for it.”

Saul Leiter, In No Great Hurry, 2013

“His photos feel – as Akiko Atake puts it – like “quiet stolen glimpses”; moments plucked from the everyday and preserved in the eye of Leiter’s camera.”

Sophie Mulgrew. “Feb 9 Book Review: Forever Saul Leiter,” on the Musee Magazine website Nd [Online] Cited 18/03/2025

“I’ve always felt a closeness to Japan in Leiter’s work; the photographs in the snow; the women under their umbrellas; the improbable perspectives and revolutionary compositions reminiscent of Japanese woodblocks, ukiyo-e; the presence of the seasons and the verticality of the compositions evoking Japanese scroll paintings, kakajiku; the beauty he found in cracks and broken surfaces, in the unfinished, the worn out, the imperfect – the endurance of the elements and the effects of time. There is a “mono no aware”* beauty to his photographs, in the color work especially – an acute awareness of the beauty of the transient, of the ephemeral, which might explain, in part, their magical and poetic essence.”

Paul Vermare. “Saul Leiter, the New York Nabi,” on the Blind Magazine website, July 3, 2023 [Online] Cited 08/04/2025

“Leiter was destined to become a rabbi like his father, but moved to New York to be a painter, then choosing photography – which appalled his father. Beginning in 1948, Leiter using an Argus C3 camera, then a Leica and a Rolleiflex

In the 2012 documentary, In No Great Hurry, Saul Leiter said: “There are the things that are out in the open, and there are the things that are hidden, and life has more to do, the real world has more to do with what is hidden.” These tender and graceful depictions of “the things that are hidden” – images that Leiter rarely showed – retain their essential mystery, defying interpretation.”

Anonymous. “Saul Leiter’s nude friends and lovers – in pictures,” on The Guardian website 15th August 2018 [Online] Cited 18/03/2025

* mono no aware = a Japanese concept that describes a poignant awareness of the transient nature of existence, a sensitivity to the beauty of things that are fleeting, and a gentle sadness at their passing

Leiter’s love of beauty, Bonnard, Japan, Buddhism, Ukiyo-e prints, Japanese scroll paintings, “ma” (space), kyūdō, haiku.

“The unorthodox and seemingly disproportionate compositions… the emphasis on shapes; the presence of calligraphy; unusual viewpoints and perspectives, everyday subject matter; the ubiquity of women; and a fondness for the ordinary and the ephemeral”

Paul Vermare. “Saul Leiter, the New York Nabi,” on the Blind Magazine website, July 3, 2023 [Online] Cited 08/04/2025

~ Leiter’s complex and impressionistic photographs are as much about evoking an atmosphere as nailing the decisive moment.

~ Leiter was a keen observer as life unfolded before him, somehow finding a way to reliably pluck a sublime split-second out of a mundane moment. ‘I like to take things that are very common and to find something in them,’ he once said.

~ Photographs are often considered important moments, but according to Leiter they are tiny fragments of an unfinished world. Such is his own world: little fragments of images juxtaposed and conjoined, amassing and forming vast, ever-expanding fields.

~ He photographed that which obstructs, hides, encloses, and thus reveals new depths of reality.

~ Everything is a matter of balance, exactitude and humility in the works of this man, who nonetheless accorded great importance to imperfection.

Anonymous. “‘There’s nothing quite like them’: Saul Leiter’s photos and paintings – in pictures,” on The Guardian website Wed 9 Aug 2023 [Online] Cited 08/04/2025

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013)
Exacta
1948
Gelatin silver print
© Saul Leiter Foundation

He photographed that which obstructs, hides, encloses, and thus reveals new depths of reality.

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013) 'Selfportrait' 1950s from the exhibition 'Saul Leiter - An Unfinished World' at Foam, Amsterdam, Jan - April 2025

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013)
Selfportrait
1950s
Gelatin silver print
© Saul Leiter Foundation

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013)
Ana
1950s
Gelatin silver print
© Saul Leiter Foundation

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013)
Sidewalk
1954
Gelatin silver print
© Saul Leiter Foundation

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013) 'Hats' c. 1948 from the exhibition 'Saul Leiter - An Unfinished World' at Foam, Amsterdam, Jan - April 2025

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013)
Hats
c. 1948
Gelatin silver print
© Saul Leiter Foundation

Installation view of the exhibition Saul Leiter – An Unfinished World at Foam, Amsterdam

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013)
Untitled
Nd
Gelatin silver print
© Saul Leiter Foundation

About the artist

Saul Leiter (1923-2013) began painting and photographing in his teenage years, gaining an early recognition for his paintings. After moving to New York in 1946, he turned to photography as a profession while continuing to paint. His abstract forms and groundbreaking compositions possess a painterly quality that distinguishes them from the works of other photographers of that era. His work significantly contributed to the emergence of what is now known as the New York School of photography.

In 1957, he began working for major publications like Esquire and Harper’s Bazaar, balancing his commercial success with his personal passion for street photography in his Manhattan neighbourhood. Leiter’s groundbreaking work in colour photography gained widespread acclaim with the release of his first book, Early Colour (2006). By the time of his death in 2013, Leiter had achieved international recognition, with his work featured in numerous museum exhibitions and publications worldwide.

Text from the Foam website

Installation views of the exhibition Saul Leiter – An Unfinished World at Foam, Amsterdam

Saul Leiter remained dedicated to painting throughout his career, producing many gouaches (opaque watercolours), which were essential to his artistic expression. While most of his works are abstract, with large areas of colour, some feature playful lines that suggest landscapes or figures. His expressive use of colour is distinctive, often favouring muted tones like soft violets, mauves, and faded ochres or yellows. Although Leiter is best known for his photography, his paintings reflect a similarly poetic and intimate vision of the world.⁠

Text from the Foam Facebook page

Installation view of the exhibition Saul Leiter – An Unfinished World at Foam, Amsterdam showing Leiter’s photograph The Pull (c. 1960, below)

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013)
Pull
c. 1960
Chromogenic print
© Saul Leiter Foundation

Leiter was a keen observer as life unfolded before him, somehow finding a way to reliably pluck a sublime split-second out of a mundane moment. ‘I like to take things that are very common and to find something in them,’ he once said.

Installation view of the exhibition Saul Leiter – An Unfinished World at Foam, Amsterdam showing Leiter’s photograph

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013) 'Harlem' 1960 from the exhibition 'Saul Leiter - An Unfinished World' at Foam, Amsterdam, Jan - April 2025

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013)
Harlem
1960
Chromogenic print
© Saul Leiter Foundation

Foam is proud to present a major retrospective exhibition of the celebrated American artist Saul Leiter (1923-2013). Leiter is seen as one of the most important photographers of the 1950’s in the United States, and a pioneer of colour photography. This exhibition brings together over 200 works, consisting of photography, both black-and-white and colour, as well as his abstract paintings. His eclectic oeuvre reveals a practice using shadow, light, and reflections to craft layered compositions.
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For nearly sixty years, Leiter photographed daily, capturing everyday moments of New York City life. With various techniques and mediums, and the use of telephoto lenses, Leiter would enhance the painterly quality of his images and transform seemingly mundane street scenes into visual poetry. New York, a symbol of modernity in the 1950s, became the backdrop for Leiter’s aesthetic discoveries.

By shooting in the rain and snow, and using windows and other reflective surfaces, he created abstract images. A red umbrella, a green traffic light, or the yellow flash of a passing taxi add an unexpected play of colour to his photographs. In the 1940s and 1950s, Leiter was virtually the only non-commercial photographer to work in colour. The use of aged or damaged film allowed him to include surprising compositions with shifts in light and colour. Once lost to obscurity, his work was rediscovered in the mid 2010s for its ground-breaking role in the emergence of colour photography.

Leiter was a self-taught photographer whose strong sense of curiosity made him a lifelong student. He maintained his experimental and spontaneous approach throughout his career, which is evident in both his street photography and fashion work.

Upon his death in 2013, Leiter left behind a remarkable collection of approximately 15,000 black-and-white prints, at least 40,000 colour slides, a similar number of black-and-white negatives and over 4000 paintings, only a handful of which have been seen publicly. The exhibition An Unfinished World offers visitors the chance to admire the endless poetry of Saul Leiter’s artistic practice through his paintings, photography and unique view on the world around him.

Press release from Foam

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013) 'Footprints' c. 1950 from the exhibition 'Saul Leiter - An Unfinished World' at Foam, Amsterdam, Jan - April 2025

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013)
Footprints
c. 1950
Chromogenic print
© Saul Leiter Foundation

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013) 'Untitled' Nd from the exhibition 'Saul Leiter - An Unfinished World' at Foam, Amsterdam, Jan - April 2025

Everything is a matter of balance, exactitude and humility in the works of this man, who nonetheless accorded great importance to imperfection.

“This ambidextrous painter and photographer recognised no limits. If, in the silence of his studio, his movement inscribed on paper imperceptible little rhythmic abbreviations, like an everyday exercise, his gaze penetrated the tumult of the city, challenging what draws the eye and scrutinising what is not seen.”

“If only we give them just a little more attention, these voices also tell us that the images are fragments containing enigmas, and that they journey through time and endure, intact, despite the darkness that may prevail in the world.”

Anne Morin

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013) 'Taxi' 1957

Leiter’s complex and impressionistic photographs are as much about evoking an atmosphere as nailing the decisive moment.

Saul Leiter (American, 1923-2013) 'Red Curtain' 1956

“For nearly sixty years, Leiter photographed daily, capturing everyday moments of New York City life. With various techniques and mediums, and the use of telephoto lenses, Leiter would enhance the painterly quality of his images and transform seemingly mundane street scenes into visual poetry. New York, a symbol of modernity in the 1950s, became the backdrop for Leiter’s aesthetic discoveries. By shooting in the rain and snow, and using windows and other reflective surfaces, he created abstract images. A red umbrella, a green traffic light, or the yellow flash of a passing taxi add an unexpected play of color to his photographs. In the 1940s and 1950s, Leiter was virtually the only non-commercial photographer to work in color. The use of aged or damaged film allowed him to include surprising compositions with shifts in light and color.”

Dimitris Lempesis. “PHOTO: Saul Leiter – An Unfinished World,” on the Dream Idea Machine website Nd [Online] Cited 15/03/2025