Mix up Miles Davis, some French post-impressionism, Max Ernst, haiku by Matsuo Basho, experimental scores of Morton Feldman, Cubism, Utamaro shunga (erotic art) and Hokusai ukiyo-e, plus some Norman Rockwell, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline. Steep for 60-odd years. Saul Leiter¡¯s work is all that, but also unique in its vision.
Saul Leiter is not the biggest name in photography, but maybe that¡¯s the way he wanted it. ¡°I was not out to conquer the universe ... my aim in life was to pay my bills and to pay my life bill,¡± he said in a 2013 interview a few months before he died. More interested in making work than networking, Leiter was relatively indifferent to the idea of achieving fame as an artist or being called a ¡°pioneer¡°of color photography at a time when fine art photography had to be monochrome to be taken seriously.
The first major exhibition of his work in Japan, which includes black-and-white fashion photos, street photography taken in his neighborhood in New York and abstract and semi-abstract paintings has definitely found an enthusiastic audience here, though.
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