Saul Leiter: In My Room

Like other reviewers, I order this along time ago and got fed up waiting, so I cancelled it but purchased it recently. Was it worth waiting, yes I would say so.Carole Naggar, a regular contributor to Aperture and a photography historian, narrates the book. Her essay is very well written, very expressive and really does immerse you in Saul Leiter’s world, probably better than he ever could. Nice writing.Leiter was friends with a number of famous photographers and artists such as Eugene W Smith, Diane Arbus & Andy Warhol and his work reflects these friendships. Very in your face, documentary style with little or no posing. Furthermore he was influenced by Egan Schiele’s drawings of nudes. Leiter’s images are erotic, and intimate. In many instances I can see images which are very similar to paintings by Lucien Freud. He photographs what he sees like Freud painted what he saw, warts and all. There are body creases, unruly poses and not so attractive women in the state of nudity or partial undress. Saul Leiter’s photographic eye had few barriers.The black & white images look un-posed and voyeuristic. But they are erotic, taken with feeling and exposing the sexual side of the women in the images. The women, indeed, seem unaware of Leiter’s camera. That’s the way the images should be. Raw. These are not images of women like you would see in the men’s magazines of the age, Playboy and Men Only, these are close up intimate portrayal of lovers, wives and girlfriends. These are like ‘fly-on-the-wall’ images taken without notice. Seems like the women do not know he is there or don’t care. It works.There are several images, which intrigue me. Page 79, has a naked woman standing on a toilet seat, quite precariously, lighting her cigarette. Not a favoured pose of photographers and one I have never tried or intend to try. In fact, that image is also commented on by Robert Benton in an afterword to the rear of the book.All the images show the models to be at ease, which suggests these are not posed photographs but rather images taken over a period where relaxation and familiarization with the camera was paramount. They must have taken hours to take, to make each woman at ease and not be intimidated by Leiter’s camera.By the end of the book, which is neither a long read or having an enormous amount of images, I get a feeling of Francesca Woodman style photography, though hers were mostly nude self-portraits. I assume neither Leiter knew Woodman or Woodman, Leiter and certainly these images were not available to be seen in Woodman’s time, but the images really do echo each other's styles.I enjoyed the book and it was well worth waiting for.

Leiter is known for his painterly and abstract colour street photography. This is black and white and studio/room based but still exhibits the same fractured narrative style of vision. I don't find it quite as interesting as his colour work (which to be fair is probably my favourite of any photography) but this is still worth buying. A good quality Steidl book using decent paper that gives good image rendition. There is an interesting essay too.

Ordered 21-Feb-2016, arrived 21-Jun-2018, talk about delayed gratification! Well, at least it gave me the chance to save up for it at 89 pence per month. I already have "Early Color" and "Early Black & White" - also ordered in February 2016, but delivered that same month - so this is a welcome addition to the 'set'. I'm very happy and very pleased with it, well worth both the money and the wait.

I ordered this years ago and its nowhere to be seen. The release date is continually pushed back. I've cancelled my order.I have now purchased a new Saul Leiter book called 'Women' from the photobookstore. Its similar to In My Room and is definately worthy of purchase. Its published by space shower books and is no doubt a limited release.

I ordered this in 2016 but I've given up all hope of ever seeing it.