Photo exhibition Ara Güler, master photographer from Turkey

Thursday, 06 November 2008 14:08

Ara Güler, “The Eye of Istanbul", is Istanbul’s pre-eminent photographer and a renowned figure in international photography.  His unique and penetrating pictures always revolve around the human experience. His impressions of the city, the water, the light and the people create an unforgettable experience.
Besides being a prominent name in Turkish photography as Istanbul's main photographer, he also occupies a special position in the history of world photography. He is the most important exponent of creative photography on an international level and achieved great fame as a Magnum photographer. He is known in the world of photography as “the Eye of Istanbul”.

Ara Güler was born in Istanbul in 1928. His father had a pharmacy on Istiklal Caddesi in Beyoğlu and had a broad circle of friends within the artistic scene of the time. Ara Güler’s first contacts with the world of art inspired him to pursue a career in cinema. He worked in film studios and took acting lessons with Muhsin Ertoğrul, the founding father of modern Turkish theatre. Then in 1950 he left the movie business to start working as a journalist for the daily newspaper Yeni Istanbul, while studying at university. In 1958 he had his first foreign commissions for Time-Life, Paris Match and Stern magazines. In 1961 he was appointed as the head of the photo department of Hayat magazine and after meeting Henri Cartier-Bresson he joined the Parisian Magnum agency.
The English Photography Annual Anthology called him one of the world’s seven best photographers. In the same year he was admitted tot the ASMP (American Magazine Photographers Association) as its only Turkish member. In 1962 he received the title ‘Master of Leica’, a title which is rarely bestowed on photographers.. The Swiss Camera Magazine published a special edition on Ara Güler. His photographs were exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the Cologne Photokina Fair. His book of photographs Türkei was published in 1970 in Germany. His art and art-historical photographs were used by Time-Life, Horizon, Newsweek and by Skira Publishing in Switzerland.
Ara Güler travelled to the most remote corners of the world, including Iran, Kenya, Kazakhstan, New Guinea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Borneo and throughout Turkey. He conducted photo interviews with celebrities such as Winston Churchill, Indira Gandhi, John Berger, Bertrand Russel, Bill Brandt, Alfred Hitchcock, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. Since then he has received many awards and his works have been exhibited all over the world and issued by renowned publishers. He also produced the film The End of the Hero in 1975, based on a fictitious story about the dismantling of the warship Yayuz.
Many of Ara Güler’s photographs are included in museum and library collections, such as the Paris National Library, the George Eastman Museum, the University of Nebraska Library, the Sheldon Collection, Köln Museum Ludwig and Das Imaginare Photo Museum. Ara Güler lives in Istanbul, continues to photograph and has opened his studio to the public as a Museum of Photography.  This museum and the neighbouring café ARA are much loved locations in Istanbul for culture lovers from around the globe. Exhibition open until 7 November in the Atrium in the Muziekgebouw aan het IJ (on arrival cross the footbridge, right of the concert hall).
This exhibition featured in Turkey Now! thanks to the special support of the Marmarafonds