A 'Centennial' celebration of Saul Leiter

10th Street and Third Avenue © Saul Leiter Foundation

Dec. 3 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of celebrated photographer Saul Leiter, who's now the subject of a new exhibition showcasing his work's range.

The Howard Greenberg Gallery is hosting "Centennial," which features more than 40 photographs, paintings and painted photographs, many of which have never been on public view in the United States. The exhibition, created in collaboration with the Saul Leiter Foundation, coincides with the recently released book, "Saul Leiter: The Centennial Retrospective."

Here's more about Leiter via the EVG inbox...

Saul Leiter photographed and painted nearly every day for over 60 years. He made an enormous and unique contribution to photography during a highly prolific period in New York City in the 1950s as an early pioneer of color. His abstracted forms and radically innovative compositions have a painterly quality that stands out from the work of his New York School contemporaries. 

Often, he found inspiration within a few blocks of his apartment in lower Manhattan, seeking beauty in the ordinary, and capturing intimate moments, both indoors and on the streets. 

The exhibition at Howard Greenberg Gallery will survey his black-and-white as well as his color photographs including portraiture and cityscapes from the 1940s-1960s, his paintings (on which he worked until the end of his life) including abstract watercolors and painted photographs, and his fashion photography from Harper's Bazaar circa 1960.

Leiter lived and worked at 111 E. 10th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue from 1952 to his death in 2013. The studio is now home to the Saul Leiter Foundation, which is cataloging his more than 80,000 works. 

The Howard Greenberg Gallery is at 41 E. 57th St. between Park and Madison. Gallery hours: Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and  Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.