Saul Leiter: New York’s great observer at 100

A life spent stalking America’s most populous city is memorialised in a new book that gives light to one of the photography world’s greatest treasures, writes Liam James

Never before published: photo for Harper’s Bazaar, April 1962 (Saul Leiter Foundation)

Saul Leiter brought New York City to life – not everybody can do that in a still image.

The lurking Manhattanite is best remembered for his vivid colour photographs taken on the streets of America’s greatest metropolis in the 1950s and 1960s; often taken at his leisure, other times as a fashion snapper for Harper’s Bazaar magazine.

His artistic output continued through to his death in 2013 and was much broader than popularly remembered. Far from being strictly a sidewalk stalker, Leiter was at ease in a photography studio and was also an avid painter – though he never did stray far from his Lower East Side apartment.

Much of his work was little known during his life – not least the wealth of mid-century nude photographs which came to light in 2018 – owing partly to mid-career financial difficulties which knocked him off the radar of the art world.

Leiter is now recognised as one of history’s great photographers – and his life and work are the subject of a comprehensive retrospective book published by Thames & Hudson to mark the centenary of his birth.

Alongside his better-known shots readers will find many of Leiter’s previously unpublished gems, in an opportunity to get the whole picture of a hitherto shrouded career.

Leiter’s work will also feature in a centennial exhibition at the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York from 2 December to 10 February.

‘Saul Leiter: The Centennial Retrospective’ is available from Thames & Hudson here.

Harlem, 1960 (Saul Leiter Foundation)

Jay, circa 1957 (Saul Leiter Foundation)

Paris, 1959 (Saul Leiter Foundation)

Jean, circa 1958 (Saul Leiter Foundation)

Never before published: Harper’s Bazaar, September 1961 (Saul Leiter Foundation)

Never before published: photo for Harper’s Bazaar, April 1962 (Saul Leiter Foundation)

Halloween, circa 1952 (Saul Leiter Foundation)

Never before published: photo for Harper’s Bazaar, July 1959 (Saul Leiter Foundation)

Untitled, undated (Saul Leiter Foundation)

Leiter in Sicily, circa 1960 (Saul Leiter Foundation)

Book cover of ‘Saul Leiter: The Centennial Retrospective’ (Thames & Hudson)