The Streets of NYC

Saul Leiter (1923–2013) ranks among the most important photographers of the post-war era, and was a pioneer in the field of colour photography. In the 1950s, he made a name for himself as a fashion photographer, with publications in Harpers Bazaar, Elle and Esquire magazine. However, he stepped out of the spotlight and continued to pursue his own creative path.  

For more than six decades, Leiter photographed and painted almost every day. A master of discovering beauty in the ordinary, he frequently found inspiration in his immediate neighbourhood: the East Village in Lower Manhattan, where he spent his entire adult life. His evocative New York street scenes from the 1950s and 60s are now the subject of a major survey at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes. 

When Leiter passed away in 2013, he left behind a remarkable collection of around 15,000 black and white prints, at least 40,000 colour slides, a similar number of black and white negatives and over 4000 paintings, only a handful of which had seen the light of day. Once lost to obscurity, his work has since been rediscovered and revaluated for its groundbreaking role in the emergence of colour photography. 

An Unfinished World is the largest UK exhibition of Leiter’s work to date, featuring 171 photographs along with 40 of his lesser-known paintings.