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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Juxtapositions II / Wolfgang Tillmans & Saul Leiter


Wolfgang Tillmans - 'Lighter III', 2006



Saul Leiter - 'Through Boards', 1957

First there was the visual connection that hit me, leafing through my box with postcards. But only while preparing this post, it struck me that Tillmans' title, 'Lighter III', is a phonetic reference to (Saul) Leiter. Coincidence? One might assume that Tillmans knows the master and it goes in the category 'quoting'. Intentional or subconscious, that remains a question. I'm intrigued since I'm fascinated as much by process as a final art work itself. But in the end, good art is good art I suppose.




2 comments:

Rose C'est La Vie said...

this is a beautiful juxtaposition and I am sure Tillmans was quoting Leiter. I do love this juxtaposition series, Michiel - it's a coincidence I thought about the notion too in my post on Sasha Gusov. But AFTER you, I know!
Our minds often work independently and together.

mfk said...

you would think so indeed. tillmans is way to worldly, investigative and professional not to know saul leiter. but then, his 'lighter'-series contains other works that do not directly correspond to leiter's oeuvre... but maybe the series is to be understood as a hommage. after all saul leiter's work, for all it's snap shot, close cropping features, has a huge abstract quality.