Ara Guler

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Ara Guler (2007)

Ara Guler ( Armenian Արա Կիւլեր ; born August 16, 1928 in Istanbul ; † October 17, 2018 there ) was a Turkish photographer of Armenian descent. He is considered one of the most important photographers in Turkey.

life and work

Guler was born in 1928 to an Armenian pharmacist family. His family had previously moved from the small Anatolian town of Şebinkarahisar to Istanbul in the 1910s . Fascinated by the cinema, he began training as an actor with Muhsin Ertuğrul . This was followed by a degree in economics. He eventually decided to pursue a career as a photojournalist. His military service made Güler as lieutenant of a company of motorized infantry - battalion of the 3rd Armored Brigade from.

From 1950 he worked for the newspaper “Yeni İstanbul” (“New Istanbul”), later he worked as a Middle East correspondent for international magazines such as Time Life , Paris Match and Stern . In 1956 he met Henri Cartier Bresson and Marc Riboud . Bresson recruited him for the Magnum Photos agency , of which he became a member. After his military service he took over the position of the head of the photo editor of the magazine "Hayat" ("Das Leben") in 1961. International engagements in Japan, North America and Europe followed.

Ara Güler took mostly black and white photographs with a Leica camera. Most of his photos depict his hometown Istanbul. His focus was often on small details, the simple life and children. The autobiographical novel Istanbul - Memory of a City by the Turkish Nobel Prize laureate Orhan Pamuk is illustrated with photographs by Gülers; “Ara Gülers Istanbul is my Istanbul,” said Pamuk. Ara Güler also portrayed a variety of celebrities, including İsmet İnönü , Winston Churchill , Indira Gandhi , Bertrand Russell , Maria Callas , Alfred Hitchcock , Salvador Dalí and Picasso ; he photographed until his death.

He has received several awards for his work: in 1961 the “Photography Annual” named him one of the seven best photographers worldwide, in 1962 he was named “Master of the Leica”, and in 1968 he was named one of the “Ten by the Museum of Modern Art , New York ” Masters of Color Photography ”, in 1999 he received the Turkish award as“ Photographer of the Century ”. Güler is the namesake of a café near İstiklal Caddesi in Istanbul.

Ara Guler died after a long illness in October 2018 at the age of 90.

Exhibitions

Ara Guler retrospective in Berlin, 2014
  • 2010: group exhibition in Istanbul. Huma Kabakci Collection. 60 years of Turkish art. Between tradition and provocation , Osthaus Museum Hagen , Mönchehaus Museum Goslar
  • 2014: Solo exhibition Ara Guler - The Eye of Istanbul. Retrospective from 1950 to 2005 , Willy-Brandt-Haus , Berlin
  • 2017: Solo exhibition Ara Güler - The Eye of Istanbul , Leica Gallery Nuremberg .

Works (selection)

  • Ara Güler: Photographs , Istanbul, 1980.
  • The Movie World of Ara Guler , Istanbul, 1989.
  • The Sixth Continent , Ankara, 1991.
  • Eski Istanbul Anilari , Istanbul, 1994.
  • Yüzlerinde Yeryüzü , Istanbul, 1995.
  • Röportaj , YGS Yayınları, Istanbul 2001. ISBN 975-7012-24-6 .
  • Istanbul (with a foreword by Orhan Pamuk ), DuMont, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-8321-9292-1 .
  • Istanbul - From the Point Hotel / Taksim collection. İlke Basın Yayım, Istanbul 2013, ISBN 978-605-88813-0-3 .

Movie

  • Ara Güler - A photographer and his Istanbul. Documentary, Germany, 2018, 44:02 min., Script and direction: Sabine Scharnagl, production: Preview Production, BR , first broadcast: March 6, 2018 on Bavarian television
  • The photographer of Istanbul's Ara Guler. Documentary, Germany 2018 70 min., Written and directed by Erdal Buldun - A. Özdil Savasci, camera Martin Manz, music by Nadir Göktürk. With Yasar Kemal, Orhan Pamuk and many others, production NDR & Ikonafilm (7)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mely Kiyak: Turkish Days: Armenia is right next to Gezi Park. In: The time . July 5, 2013, accessed October 18, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Ara Guler kendi caddesinin açılışını yaptı. In: ntvmsnbc.com . November 30, 2010, archived from the original on November 25, 2014 ; Retrieved October 18, 2018 (Turkish, "Ara Guler has opened his own street").
  3. ↑ Özgeçmiş. In: fotograf.net. 2008, Retrieved April 8, 2009 (Turkish).
  4. ↑ Nina Zschocke: Photography of the 20th Century . Museum Ludwig Cologne, Taschen, Cologne 2005, p. 209.
  5. ↑ Jürgen Gottschlich: The Eye of Istanbul. In: taz , October 19, 2018, p. 16.
  6. ↑ Documentary about the most famous photographer in Turkey: Ara Güler - A photographer and his Istanbul. (mp4 video, 44 ​​minutes, 1 GB) In: BR Fernsehen . March 6, 2018, accessed October 18, 2018 (table of contents).
personal data
SURNAME Guler, Ara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Գյուլեր, Արա (Armenian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Turkish-Armenian photographer
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Istanbul
DATE OF DEATH 17th October 2018
Place of death Istanbul