The largest-ever display of Saul Leiter’s work in the UK is essential viewing for admirers of this enigmatic artist, writes David Clark
Until 2 June at MK Gallery, 900 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes MK9 3QA. Open Tue-Sun, 10am-5pm.
This exhibition’s title comes from a quote by Saul Leiter himself: ‘Photographs are often treated as important moments, but really they are fragments and souvenirs of an unfinished world.’ Leiter (1923- 2013) spent much of his time capturing those ‘fragments and souvenirs’ and photographed every day for around 60 years. He worked in the same streets in East Village, Manhattan, but always found something new to capture.
Born in Pittsburgh, at the age of 23 Leiter famously left his family home and the future his Orthodox rabbi father had planned for him and started a new life in New York. He initially aimed to become a painter, but by the late 1940s was experimenting with colour photography. During the 1950s and ’60s, mainly due to financial necessity, he became a fashion photographer for magazines including Harper’s Bazaar and Nova.
His real passion was for his own personal work, which he worked on steadily without any real desire for recognition or fame. These painterly photographs capture everyday moments on the streets in an almost abstract, poetic style. He often uses reflections or shoots through misted-up win
