Istanbul’s Ara Güler Museum (AGM) has launched the first exhibition of 2022 under the title “Muhtelif Istanbul” (“Miscellaneous Istanbul”). The exhibition, named after the "Miscellaneous" theme that photojournalist Ara Güler used for various subjects in his archive, takes visitors on a journey into Istanbul with photographs by Güler, who is known as the eye of Istanbul.
The Ara Güler Museum, established to preserve the memory of the eponymous artist, photographer and photojournalist who passed away in 2018, is located in the historical former Bomonti beer factory in Istanbul’s Şişli district. Presenting many important shows to keep the legacy of Güler alive, the museum is now welcoming art enthusiasts with “Miscellaneous Istanbul.”
In the exhibition, the concept and design of which was carried out by the Ara Güler Archive and Research Center (AGAVAM), there are Güler's 58 different black and white photographs of Istanbul, Istanbul slide boxes, archive boxes from Güler Apartments, Leica cameras and contact printing samples from the 1950s and 1960s. The exhibition also features the typewriter Güler used to write his stories, his notebook consisting of the stories he wrote during his high school years and one of these stories titled "Istanbul’s Sabah" (“Morning in Istanbul”). The 1946 newspaper clipping in which this story was published can also be seen in the exhibition.
Samih Rifat expresses the importance of Ara Güler for Istanbul as follows in his prologue for the exhibition: “When it comes to Istanbul, it is possible to find this city, which has been photographed intensively since ancient times, among the works of many local and foreign photographers. But a photographer who almost identified with Istanbul – like how like Josef Sudek did with Prague, or Brassai did with Paris – became an organic part of it, increasingly symbolized it and photographed it throughout his life with an insane passion with the sensitivity of a poet and the observation power of a novelist, I think there is only one person in the world who fits this description: Ara Güler. Güler is a true 'boy of Istanbul’ with his own words.
“… And when it comes to photographing Istanbul, in the hands of this master of imagery, who had bold concerns and aims, Istanbul appears before us with surprising images, striking stories, fascinating form / content / relationship stacks. Güler’s photos are all original, magnificent, unique … It is Ara Güler's Istanbul now!”
Güler, a photographer of Armenian descent, captured many stories with his camera. Working for the press, he never saw himself as an artist, but his work shows that he was a gifted photographer. Nicknamed the "Eye of Istanbul," Güler, however, was much more than just a photographer throughout his career and became a storyteller on many levels. He often played with the scenery to evoke more than just the aspects visible on the surface of an incident.
In 1953, he met Henri Cartier Bresson and joined the Paris Magnum Agency. The "Photography Annual Anthology," published in the United Kingdom, described him as one of the seven best photographers in the world. He was also awarded the title "Master of Leica," which was given to very few photographers, in Germany in 1962.
Güler interviewed and photographed many famous names, including Winston Churchill, Indira Gandhi, Alfred Hitchcock, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso throughout his career. His works on art and artists were used in numerous books and periodicals.
Established in 2016 with the agreement between Ara Güler and Doğuş Group, AGAVAM works to ensure that the Ara Güler archive, one of Turkey's most important photographic archives, is preserved as a whole and passed on to future generations. The Ara Güler Museum, which was opened in Istanbul's Yapı Kredi bomontiada on Ara Güler's 90th birthday in 2018, also aims to bring the works of the veteran photographer to wider audiences. The two professionally managed non-profit arts institutions operate in a way that feeds each other operationally and in content. Continuing its work under the leadership of Doğuş Group art consultant Çağla Saraç, the AGAVAM team carries out the classification, inventory, preservation, digitization and indexing of hundreds of thousands of Ara Güler's works. It aims to make the archive collections available to photography enthusiasts and researchers through a portal in the upcoming period.