Saul Leiter Set : All About Saul Leiter & Forever Saul Leiter

These two books are collections of works and writings by American photographer and painter Saul Leiter (1923-2013), translated into Japanese.

All About Saul Leiter was published in conjunction with the exhibit “Photographer Saul Leiter: A Retrospective” held in Tokyo in 2017 (later held in Itami and Niigata). The book contains works from Leiter’s start as a photographer for fashion magazines, color photos he took in private around the neighborhood of his New York studio, beautiful, sensual black and white photography of women, and some of his paintings.

The book also includes writings by Leiter that are powerful enough to rival his photographs. His words are short and simple, but really eye-opening, such as “What’s important is not what you saw or where you saw it, but how you saw it.”

Leiter was also deeply interested in Japanese culture, such as ukiyo-e and the concept of Zen. There are also writings by outside perspectives talking about Leiter, such as one by Pauline Vermare, who was previously interviewed on Hobonichi.

Forever Saul Leiter was published in January 2020 in conjunction with the exhibit “Photographer Saul Leiter: A Retrospective” held in Tokyo in 2017 (later held in Kyoto). It features portraits of people and places in New York in monochrome and in color, self portraits, photographs of his younger sister Deborah who modeled for him when he first started, his longtime partner Soames Bantry, and some color slides that were specially included after having been previously unreleased.

As you look through the pages, you’ll be pulled into the world of Saul Leiter and his strong, beautiful, dramatic works of art.

(c)Saul Leiter Foundation