The Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam is hosting an exhibition of American photographer Saul Leiter. After a period of falling into oblivion, his work is going to a phase of rediscovery in Europe and the United States.

Saul Leiter is part of The New York School of Photographers, a group of (mostly Jewish) innovative photographers who made a name for themselves with street and documentary photography in New York from 1936 to 1963. Besides black and white pictures, Leiter was the only non-commercial photographer working in color in the 40ies and 50ies. He had no formal training in photography, but the genius of his early work was quickly acknowledged.

"I spent a great deal of my life being ignored. I was always very happy that way. Being ignored is a great privilege. That is how I think I learnt to see what others do not see and to react to situations differently. I simply looked at the world, not really prepared for anything."

Leiter's pictures are layered compositions of reflections and shadows, who remind the spectator of abstract paintings. The images are appropriately described as urban visual poetry. A way of making the fast-paste world stop, changing it from a movie into a quiet moment. One picture, no future or past to see, just to imagine. He searches, he seeks, he snaps, composes a frame through his lens and snaps with his camera. A city in slow motion, an outsiders eye. Art out of the ordinary, the unnoticed, the most strikingly beautiful.

The exhibition runs from 24 October 2011 to March 4 2012