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In Living Color: Photographs by Saul Leiter
Milwaukee Art Museum
Koss Gallery
700 N. Art Museum Drive, Milwaukee
September 28, 2006 - January 7, 2007
Saul Leiter has many distinctions. His father was perhaps
the greatest Talmudic scholar of the twentieth century. His
droll and laconic wit displayed during his slide lecture at the
Milwaukee Art Museum on Thursday, Sept. 28, is worthy of
celebrity status. And his color photographs should have
been one of the turning points in the history of photography.
But it turns out that Saul Leiter’s greatest distinction up until
now has been that he was overlooked not once, but three
times. In the late 40’s and 50’s, when Leiter started doing
pictures that we call “art” today, photographers were an
anxious lot. The world of “serious photography” was
dominated by the likes of Ansel Adams. Like any upstart,
photographers were worried about being taken seriously.
Every one knew that photography was too easy, so artists
made it look hard (in Adams case quite disingenuously
so). But you couldn’t do that with color photography. Kodak
did most of the work and there was very little fussing after
that. Color mediums were like a light switch, either on or
off. Think about how funny it is now that photographic artists
had to defend themselves for using color. Poor Saul Leiter,
It could be argued that Leiter was the first great color
photographer.
Leiter worked before photography was part of the art
market. So when people started taking photography really
“seriously” they needed stories of photographers who
called themselves artists first and hid the fact that they
worked in commerce or had some kind of trust fund. That
was not Leiter who worked as a fashion photographer.
Twice overlooked.
Then there was a book called the New York School by Jane
Livingston published in 1992 which chronicled the work of
Leiter and many of his peers who worked between 1936
and 1963 in New York. Livingston’s book was very
influential because it pointed out something that had
slipped into the shadows of history. There was a whole
world of photography, a caldron really, that was pushed
aside when John Szarkowski took over the Museum of
Modern Art’s photography department in the early 60’s.
Szarkowski was the greatest curator of the medium in the
20th century. But while he was writing art history, the New
York School was forgotten. Szarkowski dismissed them for
sentimentalizing their subjects and of course, for being too
mixed up with visual commerce.
Szarkowski was right and wrong. So when Livingston came
along people were happy to welcome Leiter and his peers
back into the club as long lost cousins to art history. Leiter
was part of that crew but for some inexplicable reason he
got lost in the shuffle again. It could have been strike three.
Perhaps his work was too subtle. Most of the
photographers Livingston highlighted got their due in the
museum world, except for Leiter until now. Lisa Hostetler,
the assistant curator of photography at the Milwaukee Art
Museum, has put together a magnificent exposition of Leiter’
s work. It’s a revelation really.
Leiter was very influenced by the New York School of
abstract painters, many of whom were his friends. Leiter’s
pictures could have been dismissed by curators who were
more concerned with photograph’s own footing in the world
of art than making something that could be called a
“painterly” photograph. But today we can see the pictures
more clearly. Both the abstract painters of the time and
Leiter responded to the verticalness of New York, the
dynamic lines that are drawn, the way the pictorial space of
the frame is fractured by the energy of the city. Now that the
fog of art wars has lifted, it is easy to see that Leiter’s
sophisticated compositions are more about seeing his city
directly rather than looking through the paintings of his
friends.
The fact that it is only now that we come to realize Leiter’s
importance could be an essay on to itself. I have to admit
that I too didn’t get Leiter while I was a curator at the
Museum for 10 years. In small doses he is easily
underestimated. It’s not until one is confronted with the
whole body of work that I saw what I had not seen before.
Leiter did not engage himself in the art wars of his time.
He never tried to make a photograph “transparent” like
Walker Evans, seem like it just happened, which perhaps is
another reason he was overlooked for all these years. Leiter
believes in composition. In fact his photographs of people
are not portraits or and his pictures of the world around him
are not street scenes. They are compositions.
Milwaukee Art Museum
Koss Gallery
700 N. Art Museum Drive, Milwaukee
September 28, 2006 - January 7, 2007
Saul Leiter has many distinctions. His father was perhaps
the greatest Talmudic scholar of the twentieth century. His
droll and laconic wit displayed during his slide lecture at the
Milwaukee Art Museum on Thursday, Sept. 28, is worthy of
celebrity status. And his color photographs should have
been one of the turning points in the history of photography.
But it turns out that Saul Leiter’s greatest distinction up until
now has been that he was overlooked not once, but three
times. In the late 40’s and 50’s, when Leiter started doing
pictures that we call “art” today, photographers were an
anxious lot. The world of “serious photography” was
dominated by the likes of Ansel Adams. Like any upstart,
photographers were worried about being taken seriously.
Every one knew that photography was too easy, so artists
made it look hard (in Adams case quite disingenuously
so). But you couldn’t do that with color photography. Kodak
did most of the work and there was very little fussing after
that. Color mediums were like a light switch, either on or
off. Think about how funny it is now that photographic artists
had to defend themselves for using color. Poor Saul Leiter,
It could be argued that Leiter was the first great color
photographer.
Leiter worked before photography was part of the art
market. So when people started taking photography really
“seriously” they needed stories of photographers who
called themselves artists first and hid the fact that they
worked in commerce or had some kind of trust fund. That
was not Leiter who worked as a fashion photographer.
Twice overlooked.
Then there was a book called the New York School by Jane
Livingston published in 1992 which chronicled the work of
Leiter and many of his peers who worked between 1936
and 1963 in New York. Livingston’s book was very
influential because it pointed out something that had
slipped into the shadows of history. There was a whole
world of photography, a caldron really, that was pushed
aside when John Szarkowski took over the Museum of
Modern Art’s photography department in the early 60’s.
Szarkowski was the greatest curator of the medium in the
20th century. But while he was writing art history, the New
York School was forgotten. Szarkowski dismissed them for
sentimentalizing their subjects and of course, for being too
mixed up with visual commerce.
Szarkowski was right and wrong. So when Livingston came
along people were happy to welcome Leiter and his peers
back into the club as long lost cousins to art history. Leiter
was part of that crew but for some inexplicable reason he
got lost in the shuffle again. It could have been strike three.
Perhaps his work was too subtle. Most of the
photographers Livingston highlighted got their due in the
museum world, except for Leiter until now. Lisa Hostetler,
the assistant curator of photography at the Milwaukee Art
Museum, has put together a magnificent exposition of Leiter’
s work. It’s a revelation really.
Leiter was very influenced by the New York School of
abstract painters, many of whom were his friends. Leiter’s
pictures could have been dismissed by curators who were
more concerned with photograph’s own footing in the world
of art than making something that could be called a
“painterly” photograph. But today we can see the pictures
more clearly. Both the abstract painters of the time and
Leiter responded to the verticalness of New York, the
dynamic lines that are drawn, the way the pictorial space of
the frame is fractured by the energy of the city. Now that the
fog of art wars has lifted, it is easy to see that Leiter’s
sophisticated compositions are more about seeing his city
directly rather than looking through the paintings of his
friends.
The fact that it is only now that we come to realize Leiter’s
importance could be an essay on to itself. I have to admit
that I too didn’t get Leiter while I was a curator at the
Museum for 10 years. In small doses he is easily
underestimated. It’s not until one is confronted with the
whole body of work that I saw what I had not seen before.
Leiter did not engage himself in the art wars of his time.
He never tried to make a photograph “transparent” like
Walker Evans, seem like it just happened, which perhaps is
another reason he was overlooked for all these years. Leiter
believes in composition. In fact his photographs of people
are not portraits or and his pictures of the world around him
are not street scenes. They are compositions.
Harlem, 1960
| Snow, 1960. |
Reflection, 1955
Fields of color are set against lines and objects. The frame concentrates the subject and also
disperses it. There are visual tricks everywhere. Some of them make you smile just for the sake of the
pleasure of the charms of a photograph, and some make you see. Leiter believes that art brings clarity
and delight to life. He succeeds without all of the huffing and puffing. Some of the pictures look too easy
but they are inevitable.
On a side note, I think this is the first exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum since the new building that
makes sense of and elevates an underappreciated artist. That is an art in itself. It’s what Saul Leiter did
for the quotidian details of life in his neighborhood in New York.
-Tom Bamberger
Tom Bamberger is a Milwaukee-based photographer.
Comments? Email comments@susceptibletoimages.com
article updated 10/7/06
disperses it. There are visual tricks everywhere. Some of them make you smile just for the sake of the
pleasure of the charms of a photograph, and some make you see. Leiter believes that art brings clarity
and delight to life. He succeeds without all of the huffing and puffing. Some of the pictures look too easy
but they are inevitable.
On a side note, I think this is the first exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum since the new building that
makes sense of and elevates an underappreciated artist. That is an art in itself. It’s what Saul Leiter did
for the quotidian details of life in his neighborhood in New York.
-Tom Bamberger
Tom Bamberger is a Milwaukee-based photographer.
Comments? Email comments@susceptibletoimages.com
article updated 10/7/06