ヽ しく子
SAU」 LEI丁ER Early CoIor With a= intrOductiOn by Ma「〔ln Harrison
Steidi
some of t†ie defini=g Cha「acteristics of the putative ・New York School, - aS tyPified by the visceral e=COunterS with the pu'se and aLnXIetieS Of street life famiiiar f「om
the 1 95Os imagery of photographe「s su⊂h as Robert Fra.nk and W冊am Klein. Leiter, by cont「ast, OPe「ated in a more re¶ective・ less overty conf「ontational mode, Seekirng out t「anqUility in the Manhattan maelst「om・ He transformed ostensibly bana- or unp「opitious subje⊂t matter into a unique =「ban pastoral. 丁here were partial exceptions' SuCh as D.A. Pchnebaker・s 「emarkabie Doybreok Express, a ValedictiOn tO the Th'rd Avenue e-evated raiIroad (the EI)・ and the
street photographs of He-en Levitt, but none of his contempOraneS aSSembied a comparab-y extensive body of wo「k in co-or And although Leiter was adept
in biack and whIte - indeed in certa'n fo「ma- and techn-Ca.i 「espects he was arguab‘y more radical in monochrome - the lync‘Sm Of his photographs is most aLCute-y manifested in the eloquent interpIay of coIo「s.
Among the seminaI events that acted as ca.ta-ysts for New York’s young
photographers in the i94Os were the pubiicatron of And「台Ke「tesz’s Doy o手fdris (I 945) and the Henri Ca巾e「-B「esson exhibltion at the Museum of Mode「n Art ( i 947). Like the friendship he st「uck up with W. Eugene Smlth' they aIso served to strengthen Leiter・s resoive・ nudglng his a.lready strong 'い。inations toward unconventionai ways of seeing. Yet u-timateiy his ‘nte「P「etations of reality are 「edoient of the Eu「opean '=timiSm Of the painters Bonnard a=d Vu川a「d・ a,rtists
he greatly admnes’aS mu⊂h as the work of any photographe両e shares' tOO, the Fren⊂h artists・ inspiratlOn什om the asymmetry and radicaI cropp'=g Of Japanese art.
A spec師e art-historical anaiogue tha.t might be proposed here lS Vui=a.rd’s pastel study Le M自ro: `Stot’On VIIIie′S’( 1 9 i 7, Mus6e du Prieu「6, Salnt-Ge「main-en-Laye). which translates an essentialiy mode「n. industriai subject into romantlCaliy delicate
washes of coIor
Sa.u- was borr=n Pittsburgh in i 923' SOn Of the intematio=aiiy 「e=OWned lilimudic
schoiar. Wolf Leiter He was lntended for the Rabbinate, but in the teeth of strong pate「nai oppos't10n abandoned Cieveiand Theoiogical Coliege in 1 946
and moved to New York, lntending tO become a painter. The majority of his palntings expiore a fundamentaiiy abstract iangua.ge o白帖t pia=eS Of coIor; to the exte=t that they contain a 「epresentational eiement it 'S described in a
spontaneous, deiicaLteiy wandering li=e・ SuggeStive of here a landscape' here perhaps a f'gure・ Foma=y, hiS Paiette is as expressiVe aS it is unusua.i・ a. diaiogue
between vib「ancy aLnd 「estraint in a secondary range of hues' from muted violets and mauves to evanes⊂ent OChres o「 ye=ows. And it wlii become evident什om Eahy CoIorthat these descriptiOnS a「e almost equaiIy appiicabIe to the ambiance of hlS Photographs. as exempiified' fo「 'nStanCe・ by the spare geometricai underpinning of Mondhon Wbrker ( i 954) o「 the rest「ai=ed, PaStel shades of Tanoger
S亡eps (I 9与之)・
Soon afte「 Leiter's a「rivai in New Ybrk, hiS Paintings began to be exhlbited' mainly ln the Lower East Side gaiieries such as the hnager GaIiery・ Where they couid be
seen alongslde those of Phiiip Guston’PhiIip Pearistein and Wiiiem de Koo=ing:
ineXPiicab-y' they we「e neve「 commercia一一y successfui・ despite attracting the 血ermlttent inte「est of in仙entia' crlti⊂S. He was introduced to the abstract
exp「essio=ist artiSt RiCha「d Pousette-Dart, Who was experimenting in the darkroom with portrait photographs which・ aS Leiter SuCCinCtly described’ inYOlved manipulation of the nega.tiVeS・ ‘blown up large・ bieached and p「inted s。ft-focus言n the style of 」uiia Ma「garet Came「on・● ln one of the paradoxes typiCai of Leiter's life, it was・ therefore・ hiS frie=dship w小a pointer (PousetteDart) that proved to be a. signiflCant tr畦ger fo「 his 「ecognitiOn Of the creat'Ve
pote=tiai of photography・
A-though he has neve「 ceased paint'=g・ Leite「●s camera became - iike an extensiOn Of his arm and mind - an eVer-PreSent tOOl● the offbeat chroniCler of metropolitan SCeneS' Which occasiOna‘ly he found in Europe・ a.S Weil as in the
united States. 1f his initia- essays lntO Photography were exclusiveIy in bia.ck and white, tO SOme eXtent this was dictated by financiai conslde「ations. But he was also, aS he recaIis lt∴af高d・ of the respons剛ties imposed by wo「king
in coior Though his trepidation waLS PrObabIy technical rather than aesthetic' whatever the precise reasons Leiter's position was clea「ly antitheticaI to Roia=d Ba.thes.s ,iew that coio「 undermined photography’s (arguable) ve「acity, that
it was mereiy a ・coating aPP-ied iater on the tmuth of the black-a=d-White photograph・・ Walker Evans was anothe「 figue who' despite his nostalgic attraction to the a「chaeo'ogy of the signS Of consumer culture' COnSidered the 「a=dom diSiunCtiOnS Of the co-ors of the city ‘vuiga「●‥ however' Evans’s judgeme=t Oniy
ServeS tO emPhasize Leiter’s innate sensitlVity and seiectivity, the t「ansfo「mative
POWer Of his lmagery, WhiCh renders even the most Pop of hiS `found’「aw
materiaI (Which sometimes extended to the klnd of low art subjects dismissed by Ciement Greenberg as k’tS`h) with anything but vuiga「ity.
i〔 is imPOrtant tO bear in mind that ln the iate-i94Os and ea「iy-i950s 「elativeiy few photographs, Other than those intended for reproduction ln magaZines o「 as advertISementS, We「e made ln COior. Leiter WaS faced with two edditlOnal
P「ObIems川Ot Oniy was the cost of labo「atory prlntS eXOrbitant, but the exact Chemist「y of the coior p「ocess pIaced llmitations on creatiVe COntrOi of the final
image whiCh a.cted as a further disinCentiVe. Yet he found ways to ci「cumvent these restrictions - eXPiolting the coior distortions inhe「ent ln Outdated film
StOCk amd embracing the unpredictabie coior rendition in emulsions avaiiabie f「om some of the sma=er manufacturers. His openness to the accidentai, and the wiiiingness to forさo the photographer’s iegenda「y cont「oi. a「e c田Ciai COmPOnentS Of Leiter’s ethos, anticipating PreCePtS that 「emalned exceptiOnai, even among photography’s avant-garde, untii the advent of postmode「niSm
in the 1970s. Seve「al facto「s conspired to deiay recognition for Lelter’s vast body of non-
COmme「Ciai photographs, amOng WhiCh, lt muSt be admitted, WaS an enigmatlCa=y
Subve「sive st「eak, COmblned wIth a measure of diSdaln for seif-PrOmOtion; togethe「 with a solid artistic lntegrity, these tendencies we「e liabie to be
mis'nte「Preted, and almost invariabIy we「e. improbabiy, hiS late friend, the art di「ecto「 Henrγ Woif, Ca=ed hlm `S=aPPy’, but ln the context of this serious reappraisai it wouid be misleading not to mentiOn Leiter’s sense of humor, the
Siow, gurg“ng iaugh that accompanies a joke -什equentiy sei手deprecatlng - O「 the withe「ing rejection of a pretentiOuS 「emark. Aithough Edward SteiChen exhibited some of Le'te「●s coior photog「aphs in a group show' AIways the Ybur}g Stronger・ at the Museum of Modem Art i= i 9与3・ for forty yea「s afterwards they remained virtuaiiy unknown to the wide「 art woHd・ Seve「al decades eiapsed befo「e aii but a tiny p「oportion of these ea「iy transparencies was reailSed in
Print fo「m・ Slgn姉eantly thei「 oniy other `pubiic’viewlngS in the i 950s had been
On the occasions when Leiter projected them in his East 10th Street studio, SOmetimes for the benefit of a few invited fhends: thus, hai手a-Century agO h'S guests had been pr'Viieged participants ln What might late「 have been temed
a performance event o「 an instaiIation.
Shopper ( i 953), WbIk-r)g ( 1 956), Gracks (1957), and indeed most of the images in EorIy CoIor, 「ender coio「 and motion in semi-abstract什ee-fo「m - fiuid, improvisat'Onai・ Re[ected figu「es dissolve intO eiegiac biur, Shifti=g in focus, intangibie・ lost in time. The evocative' Painte「ly images on these pages viVidly
demonst「ate that in the second haif of the twentieth-Centu「y Saui Leiter,s Photog「aphic Ianguage of fragmentation a=d continge=Cy WaS eXtendlng the
bounda「ies of the medium.
Ma「tin Har「iSOn, 」uly 2005
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