Saul Leiter Figurative Photography

Saul Leiter 2 Merce Cunningham Contact Sheets, 1954 Dated and inscribed by Carolyn Brown on verso Kodak safety film 10 x 8 inches Provenance Estate of Carolyn Brown, New York 2025. Saul Leiter (1923-2013) was born in Pittsburgh to a father who was a well-respected Talmudic scholar. His passion for the arts ignited during his late teenage years, and despite being urged to follow in his father's footsteps to become a Rabbi, he chose to forgo theological studies, moving to New York at the age of 23 to delve into painting. In the city, he formed a friendship with Abstract Expressionist painter Richard Pousette-Dart, who was exploring photography. This connection, along with a subsequent friendship with W. Eugene Smith, deepened his fascination with photography. Leiter's initial black and white images reveal a remarkable talent for the art form. By the 1950s, he also began to explore color, producing a substantial and noteworthy collection during the early stages of this medium. His uniquely muted color palette often imparts a painterly essence that distinguishes his work from that of others in his era. Leiter's inaugural showcase of color photography took place in the 1950s at the Artist's Club, a gathering spot for many Abstract Expressionists of that period. Edward Steichen included twenty-three of his black and white works in the influential 1953 exhibition "Always the Young Stranger" at the Museum of Modern Art and also showcased twenty of Leiter's color photographs during the 1957 MoMA event "Experimental Photography in Color. " In the late 1950s, art director Henry Wolf featured Leiter's color fashion photography...