Wikipedia

Ara Güler

Ara Güler (Armenian: Արա Կիւլէր; 16 August 1928 – 17 October 2018), born Mıgırdiç Ara Derderyan, was a Turkish photojournalist of Armenian descent, nicknamed "the Eye of Istanbul". He is known for his black-and-white photographs of Istanbul, as well as photographic portraits of many politicians and artists, including Indira Gandhi, Maria Callas, Willy Brandt, Alfred Hitchcock, and Salvador Dalí.

Ara Güler
Արա ԿիւլԷր
Güler in 2007
Born
Mıgırdiç Ara Derderyan

(1928-08-16)16 August 1928
Istanbul, Turkey
Died17 October 2018(2018-10-17) (aged 90)
Şişli, Istanbul, Turkey
OccupationPhotojournalist
Spouse
Suna Güler
​
​
(m. 1984; died 2010)​
Awards
Websitewww.araguler.com.tr

Early life and education

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Ara Güler was born Mıgırdıç Aram Güleryan[1] on 16 August 1928, in Istanbul, Turkey,[2][3] the only child[4] of Christian Armenian parents,[5] Dacat Derderyan and Verjin Şahyan. Derderyan was a veteran of the Dardanelles campaign, and Şahyan was descended from a 400-year-old Istanbul dynasty,[1] an Egyptian-Armenian family. Her father owned a ship repair business in the city.[4] Güler grew up in the Beyoğlu district.[1] A law passed in 1934 obliged them to take a Turkish surname, and Aram became Ara.[1] His father owned a pharmacy on Istiklal Avenue,[6] where most of the shops were run by Armenian and Greek families.[7] Non-Muslims were persecuted by the Turkish Government, and in 1955, gangs looted stores owned by Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, who soon afterwards left Istiklal Avenue.[7] Güler referred to himself as "Ottoman" rather than Turkish or Armenian.[1]

Güler's father had a wide circle of friends from the art world of the period, and his early contact with this world inspired him to embark on a career in cinema.[6] He first attended the Mkhitarist School[4] and then Getronagan Armenian High School,[8] in Karaköy, which was founded in 1886, and had many writers, intellectuals, architects, and musicians among its alumni.[1] During his high school years, he worked in movie studios and attended drama courses held by Muhsin Ertuğrul, the founder of modern Turkish theatre.[6][2][9]

He later studied economics at the University of Istanbul, but did not finish the course, instead leaving to perform his military service, after deciding to become a photojournalist.[9]

Career

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In 1950 Güler joined the staff of the newspaper Yeni Istanbul as photojournalist. He then transferred to another newspaper, Hürriyet.[6][2] In 1953, he met Henri Cartier-Bresson and Marc Riboud, who recruited him for the Magnum Photos agency[2][6] in the early 1960s in Paris, which was founded in 1947 by Robert Capa, Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, David Seymour, and others. Güler did not stay long with the group.[1]

From 1954 until 1962, Güler worked as the chief of the photographic segment of Hayat magazine.[10] In 1958, the American magazine company Time–Life opened a branch in Turkey, and Güler became its first correspondent for the Near East. Soon he received commissions from Paris Match, Stern in Germany, and The Sunday Times, in London.[10][2][6] After completing his military service in 1961, Güler was employed by the Turkish magazine Hayat as head of its photographic department.[2][6][8]

During his time with Magnum in the early 1960s, through his photographs he introduced the world to the archaeological remains on Mount Nemrut in southeastern Turkey, as well as the ancient city of Aphrodisias,[9][11] a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He also photographed many other historical sites and structures in Turkey.[12] He also photographed wars in Mindanao, Philippines, and Eritrea, as well as many churches in Armenia, during several visits there.[4]

His most renowned photographs include many black and white pictures taken mostly with a Leica camera in Istanbul, mainly in the 1950s and 1960s. He became known as "the Eye of Istanbul"[5][11] or "the Photographer of Istanbul".[13]

In the 1960s, Güler's photographs were used to illustrate books by notable authors, and were displayed at various exhibitions throughout the world.[10] In 1967, his works were exhibited at the Man and His World show in Canada, and in 1968 at Photokina Fair in Cologne, Germany. His photographs illustrated Lord Kinross's 1971 book about Hagia Sophia,[14] published by Newsweek.[15] The following year, his photographs were included in 10 Masters of Color Photography at the New York Museum of Modern Art.[10] His book Türkei was published in Germany in 1970. His photos on art and art history were used in Time, Life, Horizon, Newsweek, and publications of the Swiss publisher Skira.[2][6]

Güler travelled on assignment to Iran, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Kenya, New Guinea, and Borneo, as well as all parts of Turkey.[16] In the 1970s he photographed politicians and artists such as Indira Gandhi, Maria Callas, John Berger, Bertrand Russell, Willy Brandt, Alfred Hitchcock, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí,[13] Pablo Picasso,[2] Arnold Toynbee,[17] Winston Churchill, Cole Porter,[18] Sophia Loren (1957), Orson Welles (1958), Arthur Rubinstein (1970), Soviet Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian, and several Turkish presidents, from İsmet İnönü tod Recep Tayyip Erdoğan[1] (the latter in 2015[5]).

From 1973 to 1975, Güler also worked in film, writing, directing, and producing the documentary Hero's End (also translated as The End of the Hero). It was based on a fictional account of the dismantling of the World War I veteran battlecruiser TCG Yavuz, which played a significant role in the Ottoman Empire's involvement in World War I. The film comprises a cinematic collage put together from a number of sources. Its unusual soundtrack includes compositions by Turkish folk musician Ruhi Su,[12] and includes historical drawings and photos, as well as Güler's own documentary footage, in which he used actors.[19]

In 1991, his photographs were used to illustrate the book The Sixth Continent, written by Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[20]

For many years he worked on photographing the works of 16th-century Ottoman chief architect and civil engineer Mimar Sinan, which were published in 1992 in the work Sinan: Architect of Suleyman the Magnificent and the Ottoman Golden Age, co-authored by Augusto Burelli and John Freely.[17] His photographs of Sinan's work were also published under the title Turkish Style in the UK, US, and Singapore, and as Demeures Ottomanes de Turquie in France.[20]

In 1994 Güler published A Photographical Sketch on Lost Istanbul, which he dedicated to his father "for his having bought me my first camera".[18]

In 2009, he published Ara Guler's Istanbul. His friend, Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk, wrote in his preface to the work:[18]

Ara Güler's Istanbul is my Istanbul... The Istanbul of the 1950s and 1960s – its streets, pavements, shops and dirty, neglected factories; its ships, horse carts, buses, clouds, private taxis, shared taxis, buildings, bridges, chimneys, mists and people; and the soul in all these things, so difficult to recognise at first sight – is nowhere as well documented, preserved and protected as it is in the photographs of Ara Güler.

Güler's philosophy and style

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Ara Güler in 2008

Güler attached the greatest importance to human presence in his photographs, describing himself as a "visual historian". He said: "When I'm taking a picture of Aya Sofia, what counts is the person passing by who stands for life". He believed that photography should provide a memory of people, of their lives, and especially their suffering. While he considers that art lies, he believes that photography can only reflect reality. He embraced the identity of a photojournalist[21] because he did not attach much value to photography as an artistic pursuit.[18] His friend, writer Orhan Pamuk, for whose book his photographs provided illustrations, wrote of his work: "The crucial, defining characteristic of an Ara Guler photograph is the emotional correlation he draws between cityscapes and individuals".[7]

Notable exhibitions

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Güler's exhibition Creative Americans, featuring his photographs of many famous Americans, was exhibited in many cities around the world.[9]

In 1968, his work was included in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, titled Ten Masters of Color Photography. His photographs were also displayed in the Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany.[8]

In 2015, an exhibition titled In Focus: Ara Güler's Anatolia was mounted at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington DC, which included many previously unseen photographs by Güler. The photos had been donated to the gallery in 1989 by Raymond Hare, who was US ambassador to Turkey from 1961 until 1965. Hare had been interested in Middle Eastern architecture, and his colleagues gifted him the collection upon his departure. The photographs were shot at locations across Anatolia, mainly of medieval Seljuk and Armenian monuments.[13]

In 2019, a touring exhibition titled Ara Güler Photography Exhibition was organised by the Turkish Government in collaboration with Ara Güler Museum and the Archive and Research Center. Beginning at the Saatchi Gallery in London in April, the exhibition toured to Polka Galerie[10][22] in Paris, France; and then the Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan, at the same time as the G20 Summit in Osaka was taking place. Its final display was during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Turkish composer and pianist Fahir Atakoğlu, whose 2008 album Istanbul in Blue featured a photo by Güler, performed at the opening ceremony of the exhibition. After New York, opened at Trastevere museum in Rome], Italy, before its last location, the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu, Somalia.[10]

Ara Güler: Two Archives, One Selection: Tracing Ara Güler's Footsteps in Istanbul was shown at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art from 29 May to 17 November 2019.[14]

In August to November 2024, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, exhibited a major survey of his work titled In the Footsteps of Ara Güler: Exploring the Photographer's Legacy.[11][12][23] The exhibition included 155 photographs, along with correspondence, cameras and equipment, and various ephemera from the Ara Güler Archive and Research Center.[12] It was curated by Sheikha Maryam Al Thani and the Ara Güler Museum.[24]

Recognition

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Güler was presented in the British 1961 Photography Yearbook, and in the same year was accepted as the only Turkish member to the American Society of Magazine Photographer (later renamed the American Society of Media Photographers).[10] The Swiss magazine Camera honoured him with a special issue.[2][6]

He was widely recognised and celebrated both in Turkey and internationally as a master of photojournalism and photography.[23][24][13][5]

In 1980, a collection of his photographs was published as a book by Karacan Publishing.[20]

In 2017, Nezih Tavlas published a comprehensive biography of Güler, titled Photojournalist: The Life Story of Güler.[25]

Awards and honours

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Death and legacy

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Güler died of a heart attack on 17 October 2018.[30][18] He had been suffering from kidney failure and was being treated with dialysis.[30][1]

President Erdogan contacted his family to offer his condolences, saying that "Güler would always be remembered for his work",[5] and the President of Armenia, Armen Sarkisyan,[20] also paid tribute to him.[1] A memorial service for him was held in Galatsaray Square on 20 October.[20] He was buried in the Şahyan-Güler family plot in the Şişli Armenian Cemetery, after a funeral service at the Üç Horan Armenian Church (Church of the Three Altars) in Beyoğlu.[1][20]

Writer and close friend Orhan Pamuk, writing in The New York Times after his death, called him the greatest photographer of modern Istanbul", and stated: "The crucial, defining characteristic of an Ara Güler photograph is the emotional correlation he draws between cityscapes and individuals".[7][11]

The Ara Cafe in Beyoğlu, Istanbul, was opened by Güler in 2001 on the ground and basement floors of a three-storey building where he lived and stored his works. As of 2026 the restaurant continues to exist, and has maintained its original interiors, as well as its stained-glass windows. Its walls are decorated with his photographs.[31][32]

Collections

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Ara Güler Museum, Istanbul

Photographs by Güler were collected in an archive, containing some 800,000 photographic slides.[13][33] Many of these are exhibited in the Ara Güler Museum in the Şişli district of Istanbul, which was established on 16 August 2018, shortly before his death.[34] In 2022, the museum was granted "Special Museum" status by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.[20]

Güler's work is held by the National Library of France in Paris; the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York; University of Nebraska–Lincoln's Sheldon Museum of Art; and Museum Ludwig and Das imaginäre Photo-Museum in Köln, Germany.[35]

Personal life

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In 1975 Güler married Perihan Sarıöz; they later divorced. In 1984 he married Suna Taşkıran; she died in 2010. He had no children.[1][18]

Selected publiscations

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  • Creative Americans (1972)[14]
  • Ara Güler: Photographs
  • Ara Güler's Movie Directors
  • Sinan: Architect of Suleyman the Magnificent and the Ottoman Golden Age (Text by Burelli, Augusto Romano and Freely, John). WW Norton & Co. Inc., 1992. ISBN 0-500-34120-6
  • Living in Turkey (1992)[14]
  • Ara Guler's Istanbul Thames & Hudson, 2009. ISBN 9780500543863[36]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Orga, Ateş (Spring 2019). "Ara Güler, 1928-2018" (PDF). Turkish Area Studies Review (Bulletin of the British Association for Turkish Area Studies) (33). British Association for Turkish Area Studies: 67–71. ISSN 1474-0125. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 May 2026. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Ara Güler'in Hayatı" (in Turkish). fotograf.net. Archived from the original on 29 November 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  3. ↑ "Ara Güler, 1928-2018". Magnum Photos. 18 October 2018. Archived from the original on 26 February 2026. Retrieved 24 May 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Ara Güler". Aurora Humanitarian Initiative. 16 August 1928. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "'Eye of Istanbul' Ara Guler dies at 90". BBC News. 18 October 2018. Archived from the original on 12 February 2026. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Ara Güler Kimdir?" (in Turkish). Ara Güler. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "The Man Who Showed Us Istanbul". The New York Times. 1 November 2018. Archived from the original on 1 November 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Istanbul Street Officially Named after Armenian Photographer Ara Guler". The Armenian Mirror-Spectator. 18 January 2018. Archived from the original on 13 November 2025. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Ara Güler". Ara Güler Müzesi (in Turkish). Retrieved 24 May 2026.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Ara Güler's work in New York exhibition". Daily Sabah. 21 September 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Antić, Miloš (15 October 2024). "In the Footsteps of Ara Güler, the Eye of Istanbul". Loophole Magazine. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Ara Güler's legacy: Iconic photo exhibit opens in Qatar's Museum of Islamic Art". Daily Sabah. 25 July 2024. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Larson, Vanessa H. (4 February 2014). "Photography of Ara Güler captures a forgotten Turkey". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Bunyan, Marcus (10 November 2019). "European photographic research tour exhibition: 'Ara Güler: Two Archives, One Selection: Tracing Ara Güler's Footsteps in Istanbul' at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art". Art Blart _ art and cultural memory archive. Archived from the original on 6 February 2026. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  15. ↑ "Hagia Sophia : Kinross, Patrick Balfour, Baron, 1904-1976". Internet Archive. Retrieved 25 May 2026. (See p. 179 for photo credits.)
  16. ↑ "Dosyalar-Ara Güler" (in Turkish). Yapı. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  17. 1 2 "Ara Güler". Ara Güler - Aras Yayıncılık (in Turkish). 25 May 2026. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bowcock, Simon (30 October 2018). "Ara Güler obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  19. ↑ "Qatar Museums, in Collaboration with the Ara Güler Museum in Istanbul, Presents 'In the Footsteps of Ara Güler Exploring the Photographer's Legacy' at the Museum of Islamic Art". Qatar Museums. 17 July 2024. Archived from the original on 27 May 2026. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Through Ara Güler's lens: Visual chronicle of Türkiye's history". Daily Sabah. 17 October 2025. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  21. 1 2 Nimit Seker, "A City, Beautifully Blemished", review of Ara Güler's Istanbul, Qantara.de, 26 August 2010
  22. ↑ "Exposition "Ara Güler"". polkagalerie.com (in French). 15 June 2019. Archived from the original on 8 July 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  23. 1 2 "Ara Güler's legacy: Iconic photo exhibition opens at Museum of Islamic Art". The Peninsula Qatar. 9 August 2024. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  24. 1 2 "In the Footsteps of Ara Güler Qatar Museums Doha Qatar". Artdoc Photography Magazine Exhibitions. 14 May 2026. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  25. ↑ "Photojournalist: The Life Story of Ara Guler". Internationalphotomag. 13 July 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  26. 1 2 3 4 "Ara Güler'in Aldığı Başlıca Ödülleri" (in Turkish). fotograf.net. Archived from the original on 30 November 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2026.
  27. ↑ "7th Annual Lucie Awards". Women in Photography International. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  28. ↑ "Ara Güler receives the Leica Hall of Fame Award // 2016 // Global // Leica News // World of Leica - Leica Camera AG". Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  29. ↑ "Ara Güler Sok., Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Türkiye". Google Maps. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  30. 1 2 "Legendary Turkish photographer Ara Güler loses battle for life at 90". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  31. ↑ Genç, Ayşim (22 April 2026). "Ara Kafe Istanbul". Spotted by Locals. Archived from the original on 25 May 2026. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  32. ↑ "Home". Ara Kafe. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  33. ↑ Kürkçüoğlu, S. Sabri (May 2002). "Türkiye'de Yüzyılın Fotoğrafçısı Ara Güler ile Urfa, Harran ve Nemrut Üzerine Söyleşi" (in Turkish). Hezarfen-Paralax. Archived from the original on 10 December 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  34. ↑ "Ara Güler Müzesi Açıldı" (in Turkish). Mimarizm. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  35. ↑ "Ara Güler" (in Turkish). Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat Yayıncılık. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  36. ↑ Güler, Ara (3 October 2023). "Ara Guler's Istanbul". Thames & Hudson. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
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