Tim N. Gidal

Tim N. Gidal ( Hebrew טים נחום גידל), born Ignatz Nachum Gidalewitsch , also Naḥûm Tim Gidāl , (born May 18, 1909 in Munich ; died October 4, 1996 in Jerusalem ) was a German-US-American-Israeli photographer , photojournalist and university professor . He is considered one of the pioneers of modern photojournalism

Life

Tim Gidal, son of Abraham and Pauline (Eibe) Gidalewitsch, who immigrated from Russia, grew up in Munich in a religious-liberal family, which gave him a strong feeling for the Jewish and Zionist identity. After graduating from high school in Munich, he studied history, art history and economics at the universities in Munich, Berlin and Basel; in addition, he worked as a photojournalist as early as 1929. His brother Georg , a press photographer who urgently needed a replacement, lent him his machine and gave him brief instructions for use.

His first documentary "Servus Kumpel" about a group of vagabonds appeared in the Munich Illustrated Press . Together with his brother a report called “Voluntary Labor Service” was created. The brothers published i.a. a. in the Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung , but stopped working after their photographs were labeled with what they believed to be manipulative captions. In 1934 Gidal documented the 13th International Psychoanalytic Congress in Lucerne .

After completing his studies, he received his doctorate in 1935 at the University of Basel with a thesis “On the relationship between image reporting and the press”; There he also attended a seminar with Edgar Salin and got to know Marion Countess Dönhoff .

Gidal mainly photographed with a Leica , which was particularly well suited to work inconspicuously thanks to its handiness. He also used powerful Ermanox devices and, from 1930, a 4 × 4 cm Rollei .

Before he had to emigrate to Palestine in 1936 because of his Jewish origins , Gidal had already visited this country twice longer. In 1932 he produced the report “Arabs against Jews - The Palestine Problem”, which is one of his best-known photojournalistic works. At the same time his documentary “ Erez Israel under construction” was made there for the Palestine Film Office of the Zionist Association for Germany . Other works of his appeared u. a. in the American magazine Life , for which he also worked as an editorial consultant, as well as in the newspapers Münchner Illustrierte Presse , Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung , Die Woche and Jüdische Rundschau .

After emigrating to Palestine (1936–1938), Gidal was leading photographer at the London Picture Post until 1940 alongside Felix H. Man and Kurt Hübschmann . In 1938 his first color report was published in the Parisian Marie Claire .

In the Second World War he served from 1942 in the Jewish Brigade of the 8th British Army as Chief Press Officer; he reported from North Africa and Burma and was also wounded on the Greek island of Samos . 62 of his photographs were published in the official army magazine Parade . In Israel in the early 1940s he met Sonia Epstein , a press photographer from Berlin; They married in 1944.

In 1948 they both emigrated to the United States , where he received American citizenship in 1953. Tim Gidal was Professor of Visual Communication at The New School for Social Research in New York from 1955 to 1958 , and his wife taught arts and crafts in Mount Vernon , New York.

Both loved traveling, visiting every continent in the world and publishing books. He authored and illustrated books on photojournalism, while Sonia wrote children's books, most of which were illustrated with his photographs. This series of books introduced children from different countries in words and pictures. The books, originally entitled My Village in… , were written between 1955 and 1970 and were published by Pantheon Books. In Orell Füssli ten published them from 1961 to 1968 in the German language.

After his divorce in 1970, Gidal returned to Israel, where he became a lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1971 . In 1980 he married Pia Lis.

1989 Gidal handed his photographic premature legacy of about 3,000 visual media the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History in Duisburg.

His grave is in the Har ha-Menuchot cemetery in Jerusalem.

Awards and honors

• 1980: Enrique Kablin Prize for his life's work in the field of photography. Awarded by the Israel Museum .
• 1983: Dr. Erich Salomon Prize , awarded by the German Society for Photography .
• Honorary member of the German Society for Photography
• Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society .

Appreciation

In his treatise on the photo “The Night of the Cabbalist” (Palestine 1935), Maurice Berger compares Gidal's working method with that of André Kertész and Henri Cartier-Bresson . Gidal was more intuitive and less systematic when creating his pictures. He would not have served a mission, nor would he have had an agenda. The photographer said: "I leave it to the object to express itself with the assistance of my camera." (I leave it to the object to express itself, my camera only assists.) As well as: "The viewer can take what he sees, if he sees, or leave it." (The viewer can take what he sees when he sees, or leave it.)

Exhibitions and catalogs

Solo exhibitions

• Goldweights of the Ashanti. Nachum T. Gidal collection. Israel Museum November / December 1971, Jerusalem 1971.
• In the thirties. Israel Museum. Jerusalem 1975.
• Moses Mendelssohn and his time. An exhibition in honor of the 250th anniversary of his birth. Beth Hatefutsoth , Tel Aviv 1979.
• Tim Gidal in the Forties. The Photographers' Gallery, London 1981.
  Catalog ed. by Nigel Trow.
• Pictures from the 30s. Photographic Cabinet, Museum Folkwang Essen, November 11 - December 9, 1984.
  Catalog ed. by Ute Eskildsen. Magreff, Essen 1984.
• Memories of Jewish Poland. Beth Hatefutsoth, Tel-Aviv 1984.
• Photographs 1929-1991. Museum of German-speaking Judaism Tefen , Tefen 1992.
• The Freudians. Photographs by Nachum Tim Gidal. Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna , November 21, 1993 - March 5, 1994.
  Catalog ed. v. JMW, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-85202-107-3 .
• My way. Israel Museum. Jerusalem 1995, ISBN 9-652-78173-8 .

Group exhibitions

• Photo sequences. Reports. Picture stories. Series from the Ullstein picture service from 1925 to 1944. Haus am Waldsee December 5, 1992 - January 24, 1993.
  Catalog ed. v. Thomas Kempas u. Gabriele Saure, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin 1992.
• The photographed distance. Traveling photographers (1880–2015). Berlinische Galerie , May 19 - September 11, 2017.
  Catalog ed. v. Thomas Koehler u. Ulrich Domröse, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-94020-848-4 .

Book publications

(Compilation according to the catalogs of DNB , ZB , LoC and USM as well as Google Books )

Standalone publications

• Nachum Gidal: Jewish children in Erez Israel. A photo book. Texts by Bertha Badt-Strauss . Brandussche Verlagshandlung, Berlin 1936.
• Nachum Tim Gidal: Palestine Today 5708. A Pictorial Engagement Calendar. RJ Birnback Associates, New York 1947.
• Tim N. Gidal: Germany - the beginning of modern photojournalism. (= Library of Photography. Volume 1). Bucher, Luzern 1972, ISBN 3-7658-0152-6 .
  Tim N. Gidal: Modern Photojournalism. Origin and Evolution 1910-1933. English translation by Maureen Oberli-Turner. Macmillan, New York 1973.
• Tim Gidal: The Land of Israel. 100 Years plus 30. A pictorial survey. With Leorah Kroyanker. Steimatzky and Keter Books, Jerusalem 1978, ISBN 0-7065-2500-0
• Tim N. Gidal (Ed.): Ewiges Jerusalem 1850-1910. Bucher, Luzern / Frankfurt (M.) 1980, ISBN 3-7658-0342-1 .
• Tim N. Gidal: The Holy Land. Photographs from Palestine from 1850 to 1948. Bucher, Luzern / Frankfurt (M.) 1985, ISBN 3-7658-0429-0 .
  Nachum T. Gidal: Land of Promise. Photographs from Palestine 1850 to 1948. A. van der Marck Editions, New York 1985, ISBN 0-912383-14-3 .
• Nachum T. Gidal: The Jews in Germany from Roman times to the Weimar Republic. With a foreword by Marion Countess Dönhoff . Bertelsmann-Lexikon-Verlag, Gütersloh 1988, ISBN 3-570-07690-3 . New edition: Könemann, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-89508-540-5 .
• Tim N. Gidal: The Freudians at the 13th International Psychoanalytic Congress in Lucerne in 1934. Verlag Internationale Psychoanalyse, Munich / Vienna 1990, ISBN 3-621-26518-X .
• Tim N. Gidal: Chroniclers of Life. The modern photo report. Edition q, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-86124-237-0 .
• Nachum T. Gidal. Meeting with Karl Valentin. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-492-12038-5 .
• Nachum Tim Gidal: Jerusalem. In 3000 years. In 3000 years. Könemann, Cologne 1995. ISBN 3-89508-055-1 .
• Nachum Tim Gidal: Henrietta Szold . A Documentation in Photos and Text. Gefen Pub. House, Jerusalem / New York 1997, ISBN 9-65229-162-5 .

Publications together with Sonia Gidal

• Meier Shfeya, a children's village in Israel. Behrman House, New York 1950.
• My village in Austria. Pantheon Books, New York 1956.
• My village in India. Pantheon Books, New York 1956.
• My Village in Yugoslavia. Pantheon Books, New York 1957.
• My village in Ireland. Pantheon Books, New York 1957.
• My village in Norway. Pantheon Books, New York 1958.
• My village in Israel. Pantheon Books, New York 1959.
• Follow the reindeer Pantheon Books, New York 1959.
• My village in Greece. Pantheon Books, New York 1960.
• My village in Switzerland. Pantheon Books, New York 1961.
• Sons of the desert. Story for the youth. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1961.
• The great reindeer train. Story for the youth. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1962.
• My village in Italy. Pantheon Books, New York 1962.
• My village in Spain. Pantheon Books, New York 1962.
• My village in Israel. Story for the youth. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1963.
• The young fisherman from Mykonos. Story for the youth. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1963.
• My village in England. Pantheon Books, New York 1963.
• My village in Denmark. Pantheon Books, New York 1963.
• My village in Germany. Pantheon Books, New York 1964.
• My village in Morocco. Pantheon Books, New York 1964.
• Patrick from the Emerald Isle. Story for the youth. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1964.
• Jarle, the young Norwegian. Story for the youth. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1964.
• Antonio the young Spaniard. Story for the youth. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1965.
• Nick the young Englishman. Story for the youth. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1965.
• My village in France. Pantheon Books, New York 1965.
• My village in Japan. Pantheon Books, New York 1966.
• My village in Finland. Pantheon Books, New York 1966.
• My village in Finland. Story for the youth. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1967.
• My village in Korea. Pantheon Books, New York 1968.
• My village in Brazil. Pantheon Books, New York 1968.
• My village in Japan. Story for the youth. Orell Füssli 1968.
• My village in Ghana. Pantheon Books, New York 1969.
• My village in Thailand. Pantheon Books, New York 1970.

Other publications with work by Tim Gidal

• IF (Isidor Feinstein) Stone: This is Israel. With photographs by Jerry Cooke, Robert Capa and Tim Gidal. Boni and Gaer, New York 1948.
• Avram Kampf: Teacher's guide to Passover art of the Middle Ages. Three illuminated Haggadot. Photographs by Nahum T. Gidal. Union of American Hebrew Congergations, Department of Audio-Visual Aids, New York 1965.
• President of the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament (ed.): Remembering in the spirit of reconciliation. A forum of the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament. With photographs by Tim Gidal. Kiel 1993.

literature

• Tim N. Gidal. In DGPh Intern 1/79, p. 32.
• Tim Gidal: An eyewitness reports. In: The photo journalist. Volume 1/2, 1967, p. 34.
• Jörg E. Jakobs, Ulrich Tillmann (Ed.): Photo newspaper. Gallery without a Gallerist, Cologne 1980.
• Hans-Michael Koetzle: Photographers AZ . Taschen, Cologne 2015, ISBN 978-3-8365-5433-6 .
• Julius H. Schoeps : Encounters. People who crossed my path in life. Jüdischer Verlag im Suhrkamp Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-633-54278-9 , pp. 249-264.

Web links

• Literature by and about Tim N. Gidal in the catalog of the German National Library
• Sonia and Tim Gidal Papers in the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi Library; English. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
• Nachum Tim Gidal (1909–1996) on the website of the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History (with a portrait by Tim Gidal). Retrieved August 10, 2020.
• Virtual exhibition "My village in ..." by Photobibliothek.ch . Retrieved August 10, 2020.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Sonia and Tim Gidal Papers
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Tim N. Gidal: Modern Photojournalism. Origin and Evolution 1910-1933. Collier Books, New York 1973, p. 92.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Olaf Kunde: History of Photojournalism GRIN Verlag, Munich 2007, p. 72ff.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Gidal picture archive on the website of the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute .
5. ^ Klaus Harpprecht : The Countess Marion Dönhoff. A biography. 2nd edition, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-498-02984-5 , pp. 158f.
6. ^ ^{A b} Maurice Berger, Joan Rosenbaum: Masterworks of The Jewish Museum. Jewish Museum, Yale University Press, New Heaven 2004, ISBN 0300102925 , p. 54. in English as an explanation of Gidal's 1935 photograph “Night of the Cabbalist” from the Jewish Museum.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Details on the documentation on cine-holocaust.de ( Memento of the original from October 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ According to the entry on the website of the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute, he had been a lecturer there since 1947.
9. ↑ exhibition poster
10. ^ The photographed distance - photographers on the move (1880–2015) . Retrieved August 10, 2020.
11. ^ New publications on the book market. In:  Der Wiener Tag , March 22, 1936, p. 8 (online at ANNO ).
12. ↑ Review by Dietrich Strothmann : Israel, land of hope. In: Die Zeit , February 7, 1986.