On July 23 we reported
about “Leica Plans For Photokina”. Part
of that article covered Leica’s continued commitment to excellence in
photography. For that reason Leica will
put professional photography as well as professional users of their equipment
and their work into focus. They were
chosen to be “Offizieller Fotografie-Partner der Photokina 2016” (Official
Photography Partner of Photokina 2016).
The Photokina exhibition will include a large presentation in the Leica
Gallerie in the over 20 thousand square foot Halle 1 (Hall 1) which will
celebrate photography with several exhibitions. Leica is putting special
emphasis on the very extensive exhibition of “Masters of Photography.” There will be a 15 picture series with more
than 400 photographs of renowned Leica photographers. One of the photographers featured is Turkish photographer
Ara Güler
In addition to being part
of the Photokina exhibition, Ara Güler has also been honored with the Leica Hall of
Fame award. In a press release, Leica
writes the following:
Leica Camera AG has
revealed that the lifework of the famous Magnum photographer, Ara Güler, will
be honored with the Leica Hall of Fame Award. His photography will also be
celebrated with a major exhibition in the Leica Masters of Photography Gallery
at photokina 2016.
Ara Güler, arguably
Turkey’s most eminent photographer, impressively portrayed life in the city of
Istanbul, his birthplace and home, for more than 60 years. He is world famous
for his incomparable black and white images of the metropolis on the shores of
the Bosporus from the 1950s and 1960s. Ara Güler (87) is also well known for
his work as a reporter and photojournalist covering political affairs around
the world, and for his photographic interviews with many prominent politicians
and artists of the period, including Salvador Dalí, Marc Chagall, Alfred
Hitchcock, Willy Brandt, Maria Callas, Bertrand Russell, Pablo Picasso, Indira
Gandhi and Winston Churchill.
Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, chief
representative Leica Galleries International, explains, “In his own unique way,
Ara Güler documented everyday life and captured moments of change, both big and
small, in the only city in the world that sits astride two continents, and thus
earned the nickname ‘The Eye of Istanbul’. The power of Ara Güler’s images of
his city, and his photographs documenting important political events of recent
history, clearly illustrate the decisive role he has played in the evolution of
20th century photography. We have therefore chosen to honor his notable and
outstanding work as a photographer with the Leica Hall of Fame Award.”
Ara Güler was born in
Istanbul on 16 August 1928. After attending courses at drama school and
abandoning his university studies in economics, he made the decision to begin a
career as a photojournalist. Although Güler started as a self-taught
photographer, he soon became well known for his work for Turkish publications.
His work as a reporter and photojournalist took him and his Leica around the
world on assignments for numerous international magazines. In 1961, he was
employed as head of the photographic department at the Turkish magazine ‘Hayat’
(‘Life’).
Güler sees himself as a
‘visual historian’ who ‘captures what happens around him’. He dislikes being
described as an artist and, in his own words, ‘photography is not an art, it is
more important than art’. His work has won him numerous awards: in 1961,
‘Photography Annual’ described him as one of the world’s seven best
photographers. He was awarded the title ‘Master of Leica’ in 1962 and, in 1999,
was honored with the Turkish ‘Photographer of the Century’ award.
The Leica Hall of Fame
Award will be presented to Ara Güler in Istanbul at the end of this year.
Visitors to photokina 2016 will have the opportunity to view the exhibition
celebrating the photographer and his work in the Leica Masters of Photography
Gallery (Hall 1). The exhibition is open daily from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm from
September 20 to 25.
About the Leica Hall of
Fame Award
The Leica Hall of Fame
Award, first presented in 2011, shares the tradition of earlier awards
instituted by Leica Camera AG and honors exceptional photographers for their
particular contributions to the photographic genre or invaluable services to
the Leica brand. The award is a non-competitive award judged exclusively on
merit. Previous winners of this prestigious award are Magnum photographer Steve
McCurry, Barbara Klemm, for many years editorial photographer at the
‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’, and Nick Út, for his momentous documentation
of contemporary history in his images of the Vietnam war. Other prominent
photographers honoured with the Leica Hall of Fame Award are René Burri (†
2014), famous for his emotive images captured before and after the fall of the
Berlin Wall, and Thomas Hoepker, who documented people and events of
contemporary history with his Leica M, and decisively influenced the genre of
reportage photography in the second half of the 20th century.
Picture credits: © Ara
Güler, Das Goldene Horn, im Hintergrund die Süleymaniye-Moschee, Istanbul, 1962
________________________________________________________________________________________
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