Stunning Color Photography in the 1950s by Saul Leiter _ Vintage Us memories

   

Saul Leiter (1923-2013) was born in Pittsburgh. His interest in art began in his late teens, he left theology school and moved to New York to pursue painting at age 23. In New York, he befriended the Abstract Expressionist painter Richard Pousette-Dart, who was experimenting with photography. His friendship with Pousette-Dart and soon after, with W. Eugene Smith, expanded his interest in photography.

 
Color photography in the 1950s by Saul Leiter
 
Leiter’s earliest black and white photographs show an extraordinary affinity for the medium. By the 1950s, he began to work in color as well, compiling an extensive and significant body of work during the medium’s infancy. His distinctively subdued color often has a painterly quality that stood out among the work of his contemporaries.
 
However, over the next four decades, Leiter’s noncommercial work remained virtually unknown to the wider art world. He continued to work as a fashion photographer through the 1970s, contributing to such publications as in ShowElle, British VogueQueen, and Nova.
 
Leiter is now held to be a pioneer of early color photography, and is noted as one of the outstanding figures in post-war photography. After several exhibitions at Howard Greenberg Gallery throughout the 1990s, Leiter’s work experienced a surge of popularity after a monograph, Early Color, was published by Steidl in 2006. Leiter was the subject of several solo shows thereafter, including the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris; the Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam; Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne; and Diechtorhallen, Hamburg.
 
Saul Leiter continued to paint and photograph through the end of his life. Take a look at these stunning color photos to see his work in the 1950s.
 
Christmas, New York, 1950

 

London, 1950
 
Man and Flowers, New York, circa 1950s

 

Orange Umbrella, circa 1950

 

Passenger, 1950
 
Purple Umbrella, circa 1950s

 

Subway Window, circa 1950s
 
Central Park, 1952

 

Don't Walk, 1952
 
Pizza, Patterson, 1952

 

Postmen, 1952

 

Snowfall, New York, 1952
 
Shopping, circa 1953

 

Bus, 1954

 

El, New York, 1954
 
Foot on El, 1954

 

Near the Tanager, 1954

 

Sign Painter, 1954
 
Man in Straw Hat, circa 1955

 

Red Umbrella, circa 1955

 

Haircut, 1956
 
Hat, 1956

 

Taxi, 1956

 

Walking, 1956
 
Yellow Scarf, 1956

 

Barbershop, 1957

 

Red Umbrella, 1957
 
Taxi, New York, 1957

 

Through Boards, 1957

 

Untitled, 1957
 
Mirrors, circa 1958

 

New York, 1958

 

Red Composition, White Circle, 1958
 
Red Umbrella, 1958

 

Reflection, 1958

 

Walk with Soames, 1958
 
Horn & Hardart, circa 1959

 

Paris, 1959

 

Street Scene, 1959

 

Waiter, Paris, 1959
 
(Photo © Saul Leiter)