# Saul Leiter

Saul Leiter (Pittsburgh, 3 december 1923 – New York, 26 november 2013) was een Amerikaanse fotograaf en kunstschilder. Zijn vroege werk in de jaren ’40 en ’50 was een belangrijke bijdrage aan de New York School.

## Leven

De vader van Saul Leiter was een bekende Talmud-geleerde en ook Saul studeerde met het doel rabbijn te worden. Op de leeftijd van 23 jaar, verliet hij echter de godsdienstopleiding en trok naar New York om kunstenaar te worden. Al vroeg had Leiter een interesse voor schilderkunst ontwikkeld; hij trof de schilder Richard Pousette-Dart, een vertegenwoordiger van het abstract-expressionisme. Poisette-Dart en W. Eugene Smith interesseerden Leiter voor fotografie; hij experimenteerde met een 35-mm-Leica camera. Met Pousette-Dart, W. Eugene Smith en Diane Arbus gaf hij de fotografie van de jaren 40 en 50 van de twintigste eeuw mede de vorm die de kunsthistoricus Jane Livingston later als de New York School of Photographers aanduidde - deze had overigens geen enkel direct verband met de gelijknamige kunstenaarsgroep New York School.

## Werk

Leiters vroege zwart-witfotografie toont een buitengewone affiniteit met dit medium. Vanaf 1946 fotografeert hij in kleur. Een uitnodiging van Edward Steichen voor de tentoonstelling The Family of Man (1951) negeerde hij. Steichen nam toen in 1953 Leiters zwart-witfoto's op in de tentoonstelling Always the Young Stranger in het Museum of Modern Art. In de vroege jaren 50 nam kunstdirecteur Henry Wolf Leiters kleurige modefotografie op in in Esquire en later in Harper’s Bazaar. Leiter werkte de volgende 20 jaar als modefotograaf en publiceerde in Show, tijdschrift Elle, de Britse Vogue, Queen en Nova.
Leiters bijdrage aan de fotografie wordt door sommigen als groot beschouwd en zijn werk onderscheidt zich van andere vertegenwoordigers van de New York School. Als schilder beschilderde hij naaktfoto's, die hij voorzag van lagen gouache en waterverf.

## Tentoonstellingen
### Solotentoonstellingen

| 2013 | Saul Leiter, KunstHausWien |
| | Saul Leiter, Back & White, Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerpen |
| | Saul Leiter, Here's more, why not, Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerpen |
| 2012 | Saul Leiter, Retrospektive, Deichtorhallen Hamburg |
| 2011 | Saul Leiter, Photographs and Works on Paper, Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerpen |
| 2009 | Saul Leiter, Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerpen |
| 2008 | Saul Leiter, Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Parijs |
| | Saul Leiter, Galleria C arla Sozzani, Milan |
| | Saul Leiter, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta |
| | Saul Leiter, Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York |
| | Saul Leiter, Faggionato Fine Arts, Londen |
| | Saul Leiter, Galerie Camera Obscura, Paris |
| 2007 | Saul Leiter, Early Color, University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor |
| 2006 | In Living Color, Photographs by Saul Leiter , Milwaukee Art Museum |
| | Saul Leiter, Color, Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerpen |
| | The Fashion Photographs of Saul Leiter, Festival international de mode et de photographie, Hyères, France |
| 2005 | Saul Leiter, Early Color. Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York |
| 2004 | Saul Leiter, In Color. Staton Greenberg Gallery, Santa Barbara |
| 1997 | Saul Leiter, In Color. Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York |
| | Saul Leiter, In Color. Martha Schneider Gallery, Chicago |
| 1994 | Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York |
| 1993 | Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York |
| 1985 | Gallery Lafayette, New York |
| 1984 | Gallery Lafayette, New York |
| 1972 | Midtown Y, New York |
| 1954 | Emerging Talent. Curated by Clement Greenberg. Samuel Koontz Gallery, New York |
| 1950s | Tanager Gallery, New York |
| 1947 | Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH |
| 1945 | The Outlines Gallery, Pittsburgh |
| 1944 | Ten Thirty Gallery, Cleveland |

### Groepstentoonstellingen

| 2007 | Pieces of a City. Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York |
| | Mapping the City. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam |
| | When Color Was New, Art Institute of Chicago |
| 2006 | Color Photography, Amon Carter Museum, Texas |
| | The Streets of New York, National Gallery of Art, Washington |
| 2002 | New York: Capital of Photography. The Jewish Museum, New York |
| | New York Scene: Ted Croner, Sid Grossman, Saul Leiter and Leon Levinstein. Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York. |
| | Visions from America: Photographs from the Whitney Museum of American Art 1940-2001. |
| | The Whitney Museum of American Art, June 27-September 22. |
| 1998 | Look at Me, Fashion and Photography in Britain 1960 to the Present British Council European Touring Exhibition. |
| 1996 | Delirium. Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York |
| 1995 | By Night. Cartier Foundation, Paris |
| 1994 | The New York School. Dean Jensen Gallery, Milwaukee |
| 1991 | Appearances: Fashion Photography Since 1945. Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
| 1980 | Fashion Photographers. Hastings/Rinhart Galleries, New York |
| 1958 | Photographs from the Museum Collection. Museum of Modern Art, New York |
| 1953 | Contemporary Photography. Tokyo Museum, Tokyo |
| | Always the Young Stranger. Museum of Modern Art, New York |
| 1947 | Abstract and Surrealist Art. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago |

## Verzamelingen

* The Addison Gallery of American Art van de Phillips Academy, Andover
* Albertina (Wenen), Wenen
* Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth
* Art Institute of Chicago
* Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore
* Milwaukee Art Museum
* Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
* Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
* Museum of Modern Art, New York
* National Gallery of Art, Washington
* Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis
* Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
* Victoria and Albert Museum, London
* Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

## Literatuur

* Fifty One Publication: "Saul Leiter, photographs and works on paper, exhibition catalog, 2011.
* Fifty One Publication: "Here's more, why not?", exhibition catalog, 2013.
* Vince Alleti: Shadows and Fog. In: The Village Voice. 9. Februar 1993, S. 79.
* Isabel Best: Saul Man. In: British Journal of Photography. August 2006, S. 13–15.
* A.D. Coleman: Letter From: New York, No.41. In: PhotoMetro. April 1993, S. 28.
* A.D. Coleman: Focusing on a Lesser-Known Cohort of Avedon and Arbus. In: The New York Observer. 8. Februar 1993.
* Rob Cowley: Saul Leiter’s World. In: Infinity. September 1961, S. 13–15.
* Robert Delpire: Saul Leiter. Photo Poche, Paris 2007.
* Jane Gottlieb: In Living Color, The unassuming Saul Leiter finally and reluctantly, steps into the limelight. In: Photo District News. Januar 2007, S. 37–39.
* Martin Harrison: Saul Leiter, Early Color. Steidl Verlag, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-86521-139-2.
* Martin Harrison: Appearances: Fashion Photography Since 1945. Rizzoli, London 1991.
* Martin Harrison: Saul Leiter Rediscovered. In: The Correspondent Magazine. 12. November 1989, S. 14–20.
* Martin Harrison: Saul Leiter, Early Black and White. Steidl, Göttingen 2008.
* Lisa Hostetler: In Living Color: Photographs by Saul Leiter. Ausstellungskat. Milwaukee Art Museum, 2006.
* Michael Koetzle: Saul Leiter: Color has its own Qualities. In: Leica World. Januar 2000.
* Max Kozloff: Saul Leiter’s Elegance. In: Matador. Volume J. Spring 2007.
* Jane Livingston: The New York School: Photographs 1936-1963. Stuart, Tabori and Chang, New York 1992.
* Margarett Loke: Saul Leiter, Howard Greenberg Gallery. In: Artnews. September 1993, S. 174.
* Stephen Maine: Color Pioneer. In: Art in America. April 2006, S. 78–79.
* William Meyers: When the World Stopped Being Black & White. In: The New York Sun. 22. Dezember 2005.
* Pamela Roberts: A Century of Colour Photography: From the Autochrome to the Digital Age. Andre Deutsch, London 2007.
* Agnès Sire: Saul Leiter. Steidl, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-86521-587-1.
* Roberta Smith: Saul Leiter: Early Color. In: The New York Times. 30. Dezember 2005.
* Jerry Tallmer: Still Time to Develop. In: New York Post. 29. Januar 1993.
* Ingo Taubhorn, Brigitte Woischnik: Retrospektive Saul Leiter. Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-86828-258-0.
* Richard B. Woodward: Ten Undervalued Masters of Photography. Art&Auction. Februar 2006.