Abbas (photographer)

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Abbas Attar (2014)

Abbas , real name Abbas Attar ( listen ? / I PersianAudio file / audio sample عباس عطار; * 1944 in Iran ; † April 25, 2018 in Paris ) was an Iranian-French photojournalist and member of the Magnum Photos photo agency .

Life

The studied communication scientist emigrated to France at the age of eight. He started taking photos for Algerian newspapers in 1964 . On behalf of the International Olympic Committee , he documented 1968 a. a. the games in mexico . Abbas worked as a freelance photographer for Jeune Afrique from 1970 to 1971 . Numerous trips to crisis regions such as Biafra , Bangladesh and Northern Ireland were to follow. In 1974 Abbas joined the Gamma photo agency and documented grievances in the Third World . Abbas became internationally known for his photographs of the conditions of apartheid in South Africa and the revolution in Iran .

Abbas left Gamma in 1981 and became a Magnum candidate; from 1983 he was an extraordinary member of the agency. From 1983 to 1986 he traveled to Mexico as if he wanted to research a novel, and after an exhibition he published the corresponding book Return to Mexico, journeys beyond the mask , which contained a travel diary and formulated its aesthetic definition for photography. He did numerous photo reports for Magnum and became a full member of Magnum in 1985 . In 1986 Abbas concentrated on fashion photography . From 1987 he started his large-scale documentation on the resurgence of Islam from China to Morocco and tried to deal with religion in an impressive visual language. This resulted in the illustrated book Allah O Akbar, a journey through militant Islam (Phaidon 1994), which has attracted increased attention since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 .

With a veritable paradigm shift , Abbas concentrated on visualizing the strengths of Christianity from 2000 onwards . As a result, the book Faces of Christianity, a photographic journey (A. Abrams 2000) was just as successful as a traveling exhibition. One of his pictures, Two Girls Dressed as Angels , illustrated the cover story of the January issue of GEO for that year. The book In Whose Name? The Islamic World after 9/11 . (Thames and Hudson 2009) took into account a seven-year reportage tour through 16 countries and his previous experiences. Abbas toured the world of Buddhism from 2008 to 2010 and as a result published Les Enfants du lotus, voyage chez les bouddhistes (De la Martinière 2011). Since the beginning of 2011 he turned to the next world religion , Hinduism , in order to approach this phenomenon photographically.

Abbas himself said of his photography:

“When I take photos, I see black and white. I find myself in a state of grace: With full awareness of light and movement, I perceive an event in its political, social, religious or even in its purely aesthetic dimensions. At the same time I develop an idea of ​​the relationship between humans, nature and animals. I find it easier in black and white because black and white is not real. The color is distracting. My photography is a form of thinking. "

Books

  • Iran, la révolution confisquée , Clétrat, Paris 1980
  • Retornos a Oapan , FCE Rio de Luz, Mexico 1986
  • Return to Mexico , WWNorton, New York 1992
  • Allah O Akbar, voyages dans l'Islam militant , Phaidon, London 1994
  • Allah O Akbar, a journey through militant Islam , Phaidon, London 1994
  • Viaggio negli Islam del Mondo , Contrasto, Roma 2002
  • Voyage en chrétientés , La Martiniere, Paris 2000
    • Faces of Christianity , A. Abrams, New York 2000
    • Faith, love, hope. A photographic journey into Christianity . Translated from the French by Cornelia Sevrain, Knesebeck, Munchen 2000, ISBN 3-89660-074-5 .
  • IranDiary 1971-2002 , Autrement, Paris 2002
  • IranDiario 1971-2005 , Sagiattore, Milano 2006
  • Abbas, I Grandi Fotografi di Magnum , Hachette, Milano 2005
  • Sur la Route des Esprits , Delpire, Paris 2005
  • The children of Abraham , (exhibition catalog), Intervalles, Paris 2006
  • In Whose Name? , Thames and Hudson, London 2009
  • Ali, le Combat , Editions Sonatines, Paris 2011
  • Les Enfants du lotus, voyage chez les bouddhistes , De la Martinière, Paris 2011

Exhibitions

  • 1972: Ganvie People, Falomo, Nigeria
  • 1977: Retrospective, Galerie Litho, Tehran; Ce jour là, FNAC Gallery, Paris
  • 1980: Iran, the revolution, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art; Darvazeh Ghar Mosque, Tehran; Fundacao Cultural, Rio de Janeiro
  • 1982: Citizen of the Third World, Photographer's Gallery, London; Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, GB
  • 1983: Retrospective, Consejo de Fotografia, Mexico
  • 1984: Retrospective, ARPA Gallery, Bordeaux, France
  • 1986: Votez pour Moi, Magnum Gallery, Paris
  • 1991: Retrospective, Imagina, Almería, Spain
  • 1992: Return to Mexico, Mexico Cultural Center, Paris; Maison pour Tous, Calais
  • 1994: Retornos a Mexico, Centro Nacional de la Fotografia, Mexico
  • 1999: Islamies, Place Royale, Brussels; Islamies, Arab World Institute, Paris; Chrétiens, House of Photography, Moscow; Chrétiens, Eberhardskirche, Stuttgart
  • 2002: Iran, the revolution, The Gray Gallery, New York; Viaggio negli Islam del mondo, Palazzo Vecchio, Firenze, Italia; Visiones de l'Islam, la Caixa, Tarragona, Madrid, Málaga, Orense, Spain; IranDiary, Visa in Perpignan, France
  • 2003: Visiones de l'Islam, la Caixa, Girona, Granada, Pamplona and Palma de Mallorca, Spain
  • 2004: Iran, House of World Cultures , Berlin; Resurgence of Shias, Visa in Perpignan, France; Ya Saddam, Noorderlicht, Leeuwarden, Netherlands; Islams, The United Nations, New York
  • 2005: Sur la Route des Esprits, La Chambre Claire, Paris
  • 2006: The Children of Abraham, Nobel Peace Center , Oslo; Islams and Shias, Vicino / Lontano, Udine, Italia
  • 2007: The Children of Abraham, Groningen and Amsterdam, Holland
  • 2008: The Children of Abraham, Institut Français de Fès, Morocco; Jardin Botanique, Brussels, Belgium
  • 2009: In Whose Name ?, Magnum Gallery, Paris; Visa, Perpignan, Galerie Polka, Paris
  • 2011: Abbas, 45 years in Photography, National Museum of Singapore
  • 2015: Between Myth and Ideology. Photographs from Abbas' life's work, Stadthaus Ulm

literature

  • Ian Jeffrey et al. a. (Ed.): The Photography Book . Phaidon Press Limited, London 1997, ISBN 978-0-7148-4488-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary , accessed April 25, 2018
  2. ↑ Quoted from: Photographer Abbas Attar: Design courses . Design-Literatur.de, January 7, 2008, accessed April 26, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Abbas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Attar, Abbas (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iranian-French photojournalist and essayist
DATE OF BIRTH 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Iran
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 2018
Place of death Paris