Saul Leiter retrospective: “If we look and look, we begin to see and are still left with the pleasure of uncertainty.”

Single author exhibition of his works: paintings, sketchbooks and photographs: both b/w and colour.

I went on my own: up to the sixth floor with a broken ankle on my crutches because the lift was not working – the engineer was on his way!

Venue: The Photographers’ gallery, London.

Date: Sunday, 24th January, 2016.

Curators: Brigitte Woischnik (in charge of the Leiter archive) & TPG’s curator Eva Eiker.

Location, setting, atmosphere: TPG: Excellent space on the top floor allowing room to stand back but, as always: you can never see the whole image because of the interference of the reflections generated the lights on the reflective glass covering the image.  I found this very frustrating – non-reflective glass exists for this very reason, why don’t the curators use it?

Three positives of the exhibition:

•  Excellent variety and flavour of his work.  I had never seen his paintings or his painted photographs:

 

 

•  His notebooks & mini box series were a good insight in to how his photos developed & reminiscent of the work of Mark Rothko.

 

 

 

•  The info panels were insightful and added to my understanding of his m.o.:

 

One wish: that the curators had used non-reflective glass on the images.

Example of the work:

I was not aware of his black 7 white work so I found that his work stripped of colour, is just as thought-provoking as his colour work for which he is most well-known:

 

 

 

Highlights:

•  the discovery of his black and white work.
• the discovery of his paintings and his painted photographs.
• looking at how he worked: his notebooks were very small & the use of colour is important.
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•  I found that his fashion photography on display revealed a voyeuristic element that I had not assumed in his street photography which has a very subjective element: these images have an asymmetrical composition, as does much of his street photography, with large areas out of focus, which appeals to me greatly:

 

 

 

What I took with me about the work:

• These images are not of a spectacular moment nor does Leiter try to capture objective  reality: he purposely interferes with his images to propound his own interpretations of what he has seen.
• Letter does not try to capture a significant social situation.  he captures the seemingly insignificant impressions of everyday life.
• A quotation above his painted photographs: “If we look and look, we begin to see and are still left with the pleasure of uncertainty.”
• His handling of colour & composition creates a tension and balance in his images.

What I took away with me about me / my work:

•  The “pleasure of uncertainty” somehow releases a whole lot of tension about my image making: I don’t have to be explicit about what is before me: I can choose what is in focus and what isn’t; I want to leave symmetry to mathematical theory – yes, it is beautiful but it is not the only way of seeing beauty.
• I need to take time over my image making: it is not all about that moment – that moment can assume significance later.
• I can paint over my work & make it not just about the pure photograph.

Notes:

•  Thinking about creating an impression rather than a reflection of what is in front of me.
• look at shapes, shadows, surfaces and textures = lean towards the abstract.

Next steps:

•  how can I apply this to landscape ?  Does it exclude social landscape?

Star rating: 4* – too many reflections on the glass obscure what I can see.