Saul Leiter - Retrospective
This autumn, FOMU presents a retrospective of the work of Saul Leiter (US, 1923 - 2013), a pioneer of colour photography. Leiter was already using colour film in 1946 at a time when only black and white photography was accepted as an artistic medium. This fact negates the commonly-held assumption that colour images were only used from the 1970s onwards, with the advent of the New Color Photography movement led by Stephen Shore and William Eggleston. Saul Leiter only gained recognition for his pioneering role late in his life; since then, his permanent place in the history of photography has been secure.
Saul Leiter considered himself to be a painter as well as a photographer. His work in both disciplines is linked by a common visual style: abstraction and flatness. He mainly photographed the streets of New York, where he lived for over sixty years. The compositions depict mirrors, windows, road signs, buildings and passers-by. The urban elements blur into amorphous colours that form an important feature of each image.
This exhibition is displaying both Leiter’s colour and his black-and-white photographs, as well as a selection of his paintings and work that has never been shown before.
The exhibition is a partnership between Haus der Photographie, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Gallery FIFTY ONE Antwerp, Saul Leiter Foundation, Howard Greenberg Gallery and FOMU Antwerp.
Curators: Rein Deslé, Roger
FOMU - Saul Leiter - Retrospective - 28.10.2016 - 29.01.2017
