MICHA BAR-AM The Retrospective The Exhibition The Retrospective
This retrospective is dedicated to the Israeli Magnum-photo- Micha Bar-Am’s biography is closely intertwined with the always detect the vulnerability of the individual human being. grapher Micha Bar-Am and gives an overview of his oeuvre for central theme of his images: the fascinating complexity of Scanning the country from one end to the other, and often the first time. It shows the historic and artistic complexity of life in the Middle East. With a curious eye, Bar-Am devoted looking beyond its borders, he has brought anonymous he- his photographs, as well as the diverse facets of his rich body himself since the 1950s to his new heimat –Israel, which roes out from behind the scenes, while also covering the ce- of work. In his photographs, Bar-Am covers public issues he called his “lifetime assignment” – and portrayed its lebrities of political and cultural life. Micha Bar-Am has been and military conflicts. However – he also captures the quiet people and their diverse ways of life with great sensitivity. travelling the Middle- and Far East for well over fifty years and moments of daily life and the sense of being in the world. belongs to the second generation of Magnum’s “concerned His photographs speak not only of life in the trenches during photographers”, who dedicate themselves not only to as- Israel’s wars, the return of the Israeli hostages from Entebbe His extensive archive is filled with fragments of his own reality. signments, but to personal projects as well. In this respect and the Eichmann-trial in Jerusalem, but also of living in a Kib- For almost 60 years he has been following the history of Israel especially Bar-Am’s perception of the world that surrounds butz and everyday life on the photographer’s own doorstep. with his camera, including the turbulent period of the state’s him is of great importance, as he is one of the few photo- founding and growth. He has documented the development of graphers of our times to follow world affairs from a political an entire region with the eye of a “visual anthropologist”, as angle without taking sides. With his inquisitive eye, he has Born in Berlin in 1930, Bar-Am left Germany with his fa- he often calls himself. His photographs focus on human and defined his own unique, empathetic visual language. He ex- mily when he was six years old and immigrated to Pales- political conflict, the peaceful activities of daily life, and the plores the vital consciousness of the individual in a country tine. Hence the opening of this exhibition in Berlin has a hopes and hardships of the new immigrants in the 1950s; the that is itself engaged in a search for identity and normality. deep symbolic dimension. Curated by Alexandra Nocke, fate of the Arabs in the border regions; the conflict between Is- the exhibition includes approximately 100 images, about raelis and Palestinians; the fear caused by war; and the simple half of them vintage prints. Produced in cooperation with happiness and joie de vivre of people living their daily lives. Magnum Photos (Paris), this retrospective shows Bar-Am’s most important work and at the same time provides an op- The empathy he shows towards his environment is accompa- portunity to explore photographs that have not been pre- nied by a deep awareness of twists of fate and the confronta- viously published or exhibited. In conjunction with this ex- tion with everyday occurrences, yet his imagery is never senti- hibition a comprehensive monograph is being prepared. mental. In the ordinary moments captured by Bar-Am one can Technical Details
Approximately 100 photographs, vintages and modern prints framed and crated. Details to be confirmed.
A documentary portrait of Micha Bar Am will be producted to accompany the exhibition. Selection of Images The Sinai Campaign, also known as OPERATION KADESH broke out in October 1956. Suez Canal. Golan Heights. Tank barrier. 1967. After the «6 day war», Syrian civilians returning to their country along route G.1 to Damascus. Golan Heights. 1967 A white flag is hoisted in an arab village in occupied Jericho. 1967. Jerusalem, the Geulah Quarter of Jerusalem.June 1967. In occupied East Jerusalem on the 7th June 1967, members of the Israeli Defense Forces arriving to liberate Salakh E Din Street. ISRAEL. Fatah jail, a jail for «high security» prisoners in Ramle. 1967 Or Akiva.1967. A viewing point over the Golan Heights, beyond the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberiade), 1967. High Security Prison at Beer-Sheva. Tel Aviv. A Bible scribe working on a Torah. 1971 ISRAEL. Sinai, footseps in a dried out Canyon. 1973. North Sinai.Oct.1973. The womens army Training Base no. 12 at Tzrifin. 1973. Sinai.24 October 1973. Kibbutz Givat Haim (Ilhud).1973. The Israeli flag flies over the settlement at Shilo, Samaria.1978. A West Bank settler armed with a pistol, taking barbecue in a Jerusalem park during Independence Day celebrations. 1978 ISRAEL. Negev desert. A Bedouin elder crouched in his bulldozed fields at Tel Lagia, near Beersheva. 1979. West Beirut.Lebanon. 1982. Tanks of the Israeli Defense Forces brething through into the west part of the city. LEBANON. Beirut. A firing post in the barricaded part of the former National Archeological Museum. 1982. LEBANON. Israeli column advances towards Beirut (north), and traffic of Lebanese civilians fleeing out of the zone towards the south. June 1982. ISRAEL. Taba Beach resort, a tourist sunbathing as a Bedouin woman looks for clients for camel rides. 1982. Jerusalem.The Wailing Wall, on the right is the section ‘reserved’ for Women. 1985. Poland, Auschwitz.1989. Magnum In Motion http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/stormy-years Biography Micha Bar-am
Micha Bar-Am is one of the pioneers of photojourna- As a freelance photographer he has worked for diver- 1956 After the Sinai-Campaign publishes his first book, Across lism in Israel. The country’s only Magnum photogra- se Israeli and international newspapers and journals. Sinai, becomes a photographer-reporter for the Israeli Army pher, he is also among its best known on the interna- Until 1992 he was the Middle East photo-correspon- magazine BaMahaneh and remains on its editorial staff for ten tional scene. He lives and works in Ramat Gan/ Tel Aviv. dent for the New York Times and a founding member of years. the International Center of Photography in New York. 1961 Documents the Eichmann-trial in Jerusalem and in the fol- In 1968 Cornell Capa introduced Bar-Am to the independent lowing years covers the many military operations in the Middle For almost 60 years, including the turbulent period of the agency Magnum Photos, founded in 1947 by Cornell’s bro- East. state’s founding and growth, the self-taught Bar-Am has ther Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson, among others. In 1968 begins working as a freelance, covering the Six-Day- been following the history of Israel with his camera. He War (1967), the Yom-Kippur-War (1973) and the Lebanon-War documented the Israeli wars – especially the Sinai-Cam- Bar-Am is a laureate of the Robert Capa / David Seymour Award (1982). paign (1956), the Yom-Kippur-War (1973) and the Lebanon- and was awarded the Israel Prize for the Visual Arts in 2000 for his 1968 Is introduced by Cornell Capa to the independent agency War (1982) – with impressive images that in Israel are now “lifelong covering of the social and cultural scene in Israel and Magnum Photos. icons for the collective memory. His imagery shows little its ongoing conflicts, with a critical eye and an indelible style.” Works until 1992 as Middle East photo correspondent for the of the actual fighting, but rather the realities of life during New York Times. wartime and in the trenches. He has also documented ano- 1930 Born in Berlin, immigrates with his family to Palestine In 1977, Bar-Am establishes the photography department at nymous heroes and moments in the daily life of Israel, as at age six. the Tel Aviv Museum, which he heads until 1992. At the same well as personalities from political and cultural life who 1949 Is among the founders of Kibbutz Malkiya on the Leba- time his images are published in newspapers and magazines have contributed to the young state’s coming into being. nese border, and starts to photograph. all over the world. Books (selection) Major solo exhibitions
Israel: A Photobiography, with text “Israel at Fifty” by Thomas 1975 “Micha Bar-Am: Photographs” Israel Museum, L. Friedman. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998 Jerusalem The Last War (Hebrew), with texts by Michael Levin, Annabel- 1979 “Jews in Egypt”, Diaspora Museum, Tel Aviv le Melzer, Yeshayahu Nir and José Saramago. Michael Levin 1982 “Israel Diary 1956–1982”, International Center (ed.), Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1996 of Photography (ICP), New York. Curator: Cornell Painting with Light, Der fotografische Aspekt der Arbeit von Capa E.M. Lilien (with Orna Bar-Am), Tel Aviv Museum of Art/Dvir 1985 “Micha Bar-Am”, International Museum Publishing, 1991 of Photography at George Eastman House, The Jordan, Massada Ltd., Jerusalem/ Tel Aviv, 1981 Rochester, NY Portrait of Israel, with a text by Moshe Brilliant, New York Ti- 1990 “Israel: The Stormy Years” (with Robert Capa), mes/American Heritage Press, New York, 1970 Barbican Centre, London Across Sinai (with A. Alon), Hakibbutz Hameuhad, Tel Aviv, 1992 “Jüdische Lebenswelten” (Patterns of Jewish Life), 1957 Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin 1996 “The Last War”, Tel Aviv Museum of Art 1998 “Israel: A Photobiography”, International Center International Awards of Photography (ICP), New York (additional venues among others: Berlin, Halle, Hamburg, Dresden, 1959 Capa-Chim Award, First Prize, Tel Aviv Los Angeles, Houston, Memphis, Oklahoma City) 1985 IBM Fellowship, Aspen, Colorado; 2000 “Micha Bar-Am: Fotografie”, Stadthaus, Ulm, 1985-86 Nieman Fellow, Harvard University, Cambridge Germany Mass. 1993 Enrique Kavlin Prize, Israel Museum 2000 Israel Prize for Visual Arts for his lifetime achievement.
About the Curator Freundeskreis Willy-Brandt-Haus e.V.
Alexandra Nocke, who lives in Berlin, is an independent scho- The Freundeskreis-Willy-Brandt-Haus e.V. offers a divers and lar, curator, and researcher in Cultural Studies. Her fields of in- ambitious cultural program, featuring art exhibitions, lectu- terest include the development of identity in contemporary Is- res, film screenings and concerts at the Willy-Brandt-Haus. raeli society, and art and culture in Israel, with a special focus Since its inauguration in 1996 Freundeskreis-Willy-Brandt- on photography. While a scholarship holder for the graduate Haus e.V. has taken an important place in the cultural landsca- seminar “Makom: Place and Places in Judaism” at the Univer- pe of Berlin and became a well known and much visited venue. sity of Potsdam, in association with the Center for Mediterra- The main focus of the Willy-Brandt-Haus exhibition policy nean Civilizations Project at Tel Aviv University, she completed is on photography. Important photographers of internatio- her dissertation on Mediterraneanism (The Place of the Medi- nal reputation are part of their program; past exhibitions terranean in Modern Israeli Identity, Brill, 2009). Curator of featured work by Jewgenji Chaldej, Tony Vaccaro, Bruno Bar- numerous exhibitions, she is the author of Boris Carmi: Photo- bey, Willy Ronis, Gisèle Freund, Robert Lebeck and others. graphs from Israel (Prestel, 2004) and Israel heute: Ein Selbst- Parallel to its cultural activities, the Willy-Brandt- bild im Wandel (Israel Today: A changing self-image, Philo, Haus also owns an important art collection. 1998). She is also co-editor of Jewish Topographies: Visions Since 1996 Gisela Kayser, cultural chief of Willy-Brandt- of Space – Traditions of Place (forthcoming, Ashgate, 2008). Haus, is entirely in charge of the cultural program.
The exhibition has received finiancial support from the Rich Fondation, Tel Aviv. Magnum Photos New York Paris London Tokyo 151 West 25th Street 19 Rue Hegesippe Moreau 63 Gee Street Tokyodo Jimbocho No.3 Building 7th Floor NY10001 - 7204 75018 . Paris EC1V3RS 1 - 1 - 17 Kanda Jimbocho . Chiyoda - Ku . Tokyo 101 - 0051 USA France UK Japan t: + 1 212 929 6000 t: + 33 1 53 42 50 00 t: + 44 20 7490 1771 t: + 44 20 7490 1771 f: + 1 212 929 9325 f: + 33 1 53 42 50 01 f: + 44 20 7608 0020 f: + 44 20 7608 0020 e: [email protected] e: [email protected] e: [email protected] e: [email protected] www.magnumphotos.com