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Saul Leiter at his apartment in the East Village in May.
Published: November 27, 2013
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“Lots of people we think of as the famous photographers, particularly American photographers of the time, their photos are about something,
quite overtly,” Mr. Leach, the filmmaker, said in an interview on
Wednesday. “Saul’s were much more oblique than that.”
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Saul Leiter, courtesy of Howard Greenberg Gallery
"Street Scene," from 1959.
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Unplanned and unstaged, Mr. Leiter’s photographs are slices fleetingly
glimpsed by a walker in the city. People are often in soft focus, shown
only in part or absent altogether, though their presence is keenly
implied. Sensitive to the city’s found geometry, he shot by design
around the edges of things: vistas are often seen through rain, snow or
misted windows.
“A window covered with raindrops interests me more than a photograph of a
famous person,” Mr. Leiter says in “In No Great Hurry.”
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Saul Leiter, courtesy of Howard Greenberg Gallery
"Dog in Doorway, Paterson," from 1952. |
“So many photographers, they go out of their way to publicize themselves
and to search out success,” he added. “Saul never did it. He
photographed because he loved taking photographs.”
In the interview with Photographers Speak, Mr. Leiter set his role as a
photographer against the backdrop of far more vital human events.
“I am not immersed in self-admiration,” he said. “When I am listening to
Vivaldi or Japanese music or making spaghetti at 3 in the morning and
realize that I don’t have the proper sauce for it, fame is of no use.”
