'Saul Leiter: Early Black and White' photo exhibit opens in New York City

Saul Leiter will be presented by Howard Greenberg Gallery from September 18 – October 25, 2014. The exhibition represents the first solo show of the artist’s early black and white photography from the 1940s and 50s, and will focus on more than 40 images including many unique prints that have never before been exhibited.

The exhibition coincides with the publication of Saul Leiter: Early Black and White, a two-volume monograph published by Steidl / Howard Greenberg Library, a new imprint at Steidl. With text by Max Kozolff and an additional essay by Jane Livingston, the volumes show the impressive range of Leiter’s early photography. In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter, a documentary film directed by Tomas Leach, was released in 2013 to critical acclaim.

Leiter made an enormous and unique contribution to photography with a highly prolific period in New York City in the 1940s and 50s. His abstracted forms and radically innovative compositions have a painterly quality that stands out among the work of his New York School contemporaries. Well-known for his color work, Leiter’s earliest black and white photographs also show an extraordinary affinity for the medium. His distinctive imagery stems from his profound and touching response to the dynamic street life of New York City.

“He has a rapturous way with color, which stems from his love of the masters of modern art,” writes Max Kozloff in the introduction to Saul Leiter: Early Black and White. “But his black and white production is just as indebted to lessons he learned from those same masters.”

From the shoes of the shoeshine man to the detail of a young girl’s hair in a ponytail, Saul Leiter at Howard Greenberg Gallery will include the artist’s iconic street photography and intimate portraits of friends and family. (Howard Greenberg Gallery)

Here's a peek.

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