Saul Leiter: postcards at Saint Laurent Rive Droite

Saul Leiter’s photographs do not always need a large wall. Some were made to travel as postcards; others entered albums given to friends. Their scale and destination are part of how they should be read.

Carte Postale, presented at Saint Laurent Rive Droite in Paris from 8 May to 14 June 2025, turned that private register into an exhibition. WAYFARER’s report described Anthony Vaccarello’s selection of black-and-white photographs brought together by the Saul Leiter Foundation.

A smaller photographic world

The pictures were produced in Leiter’s own darkroom in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Portraits of friends, lovers and unfamiliar faces replaced the brightly coloured New York street scenes with which he is often associated.

That shift was not simply from colour to monochrome. The images also changed their relationship with the viewer. A photograph sent to someone or placed in a handmade album carries a different intention from one conceived for an exhibition.

The series received the name Carte Postale in 2024, when Gallery FIFTY ONE presented it as a body of work. The Paris show then placed those pictures inside a fashion house’s concept store, bringing the private photographic gesture into a more public setting.

The archive mentioned reproductions of ten postcards alongside the original works. Their availability belonged to that exhibition period and is not implied today. What remains is the invitation to look at Leiter through another scale: the picture as a gift, an address and a record of attention.

---

Adapted from the WAYFARER Brazil archive, first published 2025-05-08. English adaptation: 6 October 2026. This is an archival account, not a report of a new visit. Exhibitions, collections and menu details are described in their original context, not as current availability.