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Saul Leiter: Early Black and White
The distinctive iconography of Saul Leiter's early black-and-white photographs stems from his profound response to the dynamic street life of New York City in the late 1940s and 50s. While this technique borrowed aspects of the photo-documentary, Leiter's imagery was more shaped by his highly individual reactions to the people and places he encountered. Like a Magic Realist with a camera, Leiter absorbed the mystery of the city and poignant human experiences. Together with Early Color, also published by Steidl, the two volumes comprising Early Black and White show the impressive range of Leiter's early photography.
388 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2007
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About the author
Saul Leiter
26 books39 followersSaul Leiter was an American photographer and painter whose pioneering work in color photography and nuanced street scenes made him a central, though often underappreciated, figure of the New York school of photography. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Leiter initially pursued a religious path, studying to become a rabbi like his father, a renowned Talmudic scholar. However, by the age of 23, he left theology school and moved to New York City to become an artist.
Influenced early on by the Abstract Expressionist painter Richard Pousette-Dart and photographer W. Eugene Smith, Leiter soon turned to photography. He began with black-and-white images using a 35mm Leica and by 1948 had started experimenting with color photography—decades before it became widely accepted as an art form. His work from this period revealed a painterly sensitivity to light, form, and abstraction, setting him apart from the grittier, more confrontational style of many contemporaries such as Robert Frank48591 and William Klein. Instead, Leiter sought tranquility in the chaos of New York, often capturing poetic glimpses of life through fogged windows, reflections, and delicate color fields.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Leiter sustained his artistic practice through fashion photography, contributing to Harper’s Bazaar, Show, Elle, and British Vogue. His editorial work, though commercial, retained his distinct aesthetic sensibility and subtle sense of narrative.
Leiter’s contributions to photography remained relatively overlooked for much of his life, but later years brought a resurgence of interest. Edward Steichen had included him in a 1953 exhibition at MoMA, but it wasn't until the 1990s and 2000s that retrospectives and publications such as Early Color (2006), edited by Martin Harrison, reintroduced his remarkable body of work to new audiences. In 2008, the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation hosted his first major European museum show. That same lyrical vision is the subject of the 2013 documentary In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter.
A prolific artist in both photography and painting, Leiter continued creating work until his death in New York City in 2013. His photographs are now part of major public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Often referred to as a quiet master, Saul Leiter left behind a singular vision—intimate, painterly, and timeless—that continues to inspire photographers and art lovers around the world.
Influenced early on by the Abstract Expressionist painter Richard Pousette-Dart and photographer W. Eugene Smith, Leiter soon turned to photography. He began with black-and-white images using a 35mm Leica and by 1948 had started experimenting with color photography—decades before it became widely accepted as an art form. His work from this period revealed a painterly sensitivity to light, form, and abstraction, setting him apart from the grittier, more confrontational style of many contemporaries such as Robert Frank48591 and William Klein. Instead, Leiter sought tranquility in the chaos of New York, often capturing poetic glimpses of life through fogged windows, reflections, and delicate color fields.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Leiter sustained his artistic practice through fashion photography, contributing to Harper’s Bazaar, Show, Elle, and British Vogue. His editorial work, though commercial, retained his distinct aesthetic sensibility and subtle sense of narrative.
Leiter’s contributions to photography remained relatively overlooked for much of his life, but later years brought a resurgence of interest. Edward Steichen had included him in a 1953 exhibition at MoMA, but it wasn't until the 1990s and 2000s that retrospectives and publications such as Early Color (2006), edited by Martin Harrison, reintroduced his remarkable body of work to new audiences. In 2008, the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation hosted his first major European museum show. That same lyrical vision is the subject of the 2013 documentary In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter.
A prolific artist in both photography and painting, Leiter continued creating work until his death in New York City in 2013. His photographs are now part of major public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Often referred to as a quiet master, Saul Leiter left behind a singular vision—intimate, painterly, and timeless—that continues to inspire photographers and art lovers around the world.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 21, 2025
Certaines images sont assez banales, d'autres font largement partie des plus grand chef d'œuvre de la photgraphie noir et blanc.
October 4, 2019
Well... Pick up a camera and do your thing. He did it and it was great.
June 9, 2016
i've totally fallen in love with saul leiter's work the last few weeks. his color might be a bit better than his monochrome, but all is brilliant regardless.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews