À propos of not a lot, I was walking the terrace doing my obligatory hour this evening when the mind turned to less hypnotically mind-numbing things, and I found myself wondering about Henri C-B.
In particular, I tried to put him into some sort of perspective vis-à-vis Saul Leiter, the latter being one of my pet lensmen in both black and white as well as colour – especially in colour. The instant consideration that hit me between the eyes – it could have been worse – was that as far as I can tell, the Frenchman never did anything in colour. There may well be hidden masterpieces (and of course, I speak only of his photography, not his more serious art) somewhere, but my memory reveals none.
Yes, I know that the two worked for different devils, but both performed a noticeable amount of their oeuvre on the pavement. Another difference, perhaps, is that Leiter appears to have made much of his historical contribution in personal work, as distinct from commissioned, whereas HC-B did have political magazines and the Magnum project to worry about, and a lot of what one sees had publication as a priority, or so it seems to me.
But here's the deal, or, rather, the question: would HC-B's material have been anything worth writing home about if he'd worked it in colour?
Leiter did a lot in both – two separate books devoted to his early work, one for each medium – and from my way of looking at this, he did well in both, though I do find a more personal call from the colour, as I've said. That's not to deny the black and white, just my preference. I bought his eponymous, last book – I think it came out just after he died – and both ways of seeing are represented nicely.
Both men were painters before they were photographers; did it affect them in different ways? I can't honestly say that any of HC-B's photography looks 'painterly' nor am I certain that that's just due to the absence of colour; as I have seen no colour photography from him, it's silly to project a supposition there. However, in the case of Leiter's street colour, the artist speaks much louder than the lensman. I feel he works colour as blocks rather than as specific detail; yes, of course one can see what it's all about, but the emotional buzz comes from the colour rather than the explicitness of content.
Maybe the reality is that Leiter's 'street' was simply an extension of his mental studio, whereas HC-B's 'steet' was his sketchbook.