Reviews
A gift to anyone generally who enjoys strong street work. For Leiter die-hards and completists, it will be required reading., The photographs in Unseen reveal a delight in the local, the close-at-hand, the particular--and a constant immersion in and attention to the world as it is., There are hardly any notable color photographs from that era - other than Leiter's. This makes his images of everyday Manhattan such a revelation: a black-and-white world turned into a sidewalk Oz., These previously unpublished selections of 35mm slides confirm and extend the stubborn singularity of Leiter's color language., It is a revelatory and colossal archival project that allows even Leiter's enthusiasts to discover him all over again., The book takes us into familiar Leiter territory--umbrellas, red dresses, rain-dappled windows--only to prove the man all the more remarkable for never seeing a thing the same way twice., Leiter was a keen observer as life unfolded before him, somehow finding a way to reliably pluck a sublime split-second out of a mundane moment., The photographs and texture of the mundane movements of the city: a couple kissing on a rain-dampened bench, glossy taxis waiting in the street, the flash of a red dress., At a time when photos are disposable and Instagram gratification is coin of the realm, Unseen Saul Leiter is a book that will teach you a new way to see.
