Canopy

Saul Leiter was a painter and photographer associated with the New York School of photography during the second half of the 20th century. Unlike other photographers of that time, who focused on capturing urban anxiety, Leiter sought out a serene, poetic beauty in his images of the city. The use of color film also set him apart from most of his contemporaries, although the almost monochromatic cityscape seen here takes his already subdued palette to an extreme, leaving only the brake light of the car as a reminder of color. Leiter heightened the drama of pedestrians battling a snowstorm by cropping the scene with the outline of the canopy under which he took the photograph.