Ara Güler Click for Artist Information

Ara Güler

Ara Güler (1928 - 2018)

He was born in Istanbul on August 16, 1928. While working in every branch of filmmaking in film studios during his high school years, he attended Muhsin Ertuğrul's Theater Courses. In 1950, he started journalism at Yeni İstanbul Newspaper and at the same time he attended Istanbul University Faculty of Economics. In 1958, he took on the duties of Near East photojournalist for Time-Life, Paris-Match and Der Stern magazines. In 1954, he started working as the head of photography department at Hayat Magazine.

In 1953, he met Henri Cartier Bresson and joined the Paris Magnum Agency and the "Photography Annual Anthology" published in England described him as one of the 7 best photographers in the world. In the same year, he was accepted as the only Turkish member of ASMP (American Society of Magazine Photographers). In 1962, he earned the title of "Master of Leica", which was given to very few photographers in Germany. Camera magazine published in Switzerland dedicated a special issue to him. In 1964, his photographs were used in Mariana Noris's work "Young Turkey" published in the USA. In 1967, a series of his photographs were published with Richard Avedon in the "Photography of the World" anthology published in Japan. In 1967, his works were exhibited in the "Views of the World of People" exhibition opened in Canada, in 1968 in the "Ten Masters of Color Photography" exhibition held at the New York Gallery of Modern Art, and in the same year in Cologne, Germany at the Fotokina Fair. In 1970, a photo album called "Türkei" was published in Germany. His photographs on art and art history were used by Time-Life, Horizon and Nesweek book sections in the USA and by Skira Publishing House in Switzerland. In 1971, he took the photographs for Lord Kinross's book "Hagia-Sophia" (Hagia Sophia).

In 1980, some of his photographs were published in the book "Photographs" published by Karacan Publishing. In 1986, he photographed the book "Mimar Sinan" written by Prof. Abdullah Kuran, published by the Hürriyet Foundation. The same book was published in English by the "Institute of Turkish Studies" in 1987. In 1989, the book "Ara Güler's Filmmakers" was published. In 1991, he photographed the book "The Sixth Continent" by Halicarnassus Fisherman (Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı) for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the meantime, he traveled all over the world and conducted photo interviews and announced them to the world through the Magnum Agency.

He interviewed and photographed many famous people such as Ismet İnönü, Winston Churchill, Indira Gandhi, John Berger, Bertrand Russel, Bill Brandt, Alfred Hitchcock, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Salvador Dali, Picasso. The most famous is the Picasso interview where he did not pose for photographers. The photographs of Mimar Sinan's works, which he worked on for years, were published in France, the USA and England in 1992 in the book "Sinan, Architect of Soliman the Magnificent". The same year, his book "Living in Turkey" was published in England, the USA and Singapore under the title "Turkish Style" and in France under the title "Demeures Ottomanes de Turquie". The photo books "Eski İstanbul Memories" were published in 1994, "Bir Devir Böyle Geçti" and "Yitirılmış Renkler ve Yüzlerinde Toprak" in 1995.

Ara Güler's photographs are in the National Library in Paris, in the University of Nebraska Sheldon Collection in the Georg Eastman Museum in Rochester in the USA. His photographs are exhibited in Das Imaginare Photo Museum in the Mueseum Ludwing in Cologne.

Source: www.araguler.com