To prevent the spread of COVID-19, all sessions from Friday, February 28 onward have been cancelled.
“Forever Saul Leiter” — The Legendary Photographer Born in New York
I visited the “Forever Saul Leiter” exhibition being held at Bunkamura The Museum.
Saul Leiter is a photographer whose work has come to be widely appreciated only in recent years. In Japan, his first solo exhibition was the retrospective held at Bunkamura The Museum in 2017. That show drew a large audience, and the strong response led to this second exhibition being organized in a relatively short span of time.
Saul Leiter’s photographs each capture nothing more than ordinary, unremarkable street scenes, yet his distinctive way of composing an image leads to a curiously singular viewing experience. Few of his photographs are shot squarely facing the subject; many leave you wondering just where he was standing when he pressed the shutter.
The color palette in the photographs is minimal, and the overall tonality is quiet and subdued. Many of the images feel as though they are speaking softly to us as viewers. In an age when glossy, vividly colored, “Instagrammable” photos surge past us one after another,
Saul Leiter’s Slide Production
One of the highlights of the exhibition was the small room devoted to a slide production, which was really wonderful.
Many works were selected from the vast archive of unpublished pieces held by the Saul Leiter Foundation, and digitized using the latest technology from NTT East for this presentation.
Color works were projected onto a large screen, appearing one after another with a staging that evoked a rotating slide projector.
Saul Leiter’s photographs are often small in format, but here the beautiful images could be appreciated at a size that gave them real presence — a rare and valuable way of showing the work.
Recreation of the Studio Wall
An installation recreating the wall of the apartment that Saul Leiter used as both home and studio was also on view.
Museum Shop
After viewing the exhibition, visitors are led straight through to the museum shop area.
A fairly wide range of merchandise was on offer.
Postcards were available in a rich variety.
I would love to frame some and put them up at home.
