Ida Kar

Sitterback to top

• Ida Kar (1908-1974), Photographer. Sitter in 137 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 1567 portraits.

Artistsback to top

• Ida Kar (1908-1974), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 1567 portraits, Sitter in 137 portraits.
• Julieta Preston (Julie Green) (1943-2018), Assistant to Ida Kar. Artist or producer associated with 5 portraits.

This portraitback to top

In the year this photograph was taken an exhibition of 76 of Kar's large format prints travelled to Moscow's House of Friendship as part of a government-sponsored cultural exchange programme. Ida Kar received glowing reviews; 'Ida Kar is that rare thing - the artist photographer'. 20,000 people saw the exhibition in two weeks and in the UK Studio magazine ran the cover story 'Ida Kar: Artist with a Camera.'

Linked publicationsback to top

• Rideal, Liz, Mirror Mirror: Self-portraits by Women Artists, 2001 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 12 September 2001 to 20 January 2002), p. 95 Read entry

  Born in Tambov, Russia, Ida Kar spent her childhood in Russia and Iran until her parents moved to Egypt when she was thirteen. In Alexandria she attended the Lycée Français and at twenty went to Paris to study medicine and chemistry. These subjects were exchanged for singing and violin as Kar was swept up in the excitement of Paris, left-wing politics, and the artistic avant-garde. On her return to Egypt in 1933 she began working in a photographic studio. She married Edmond Belali, a keen amateur photographer and Egyptian government official, and they moved to Cairo where they set up their own studio called 'Idabel'. At around this time Lee Miller was in Egypt too, and it is interesting to speculate on whether she might have been an influence on the work that Kar and her husband showed in the two Surrealist exhibitions they contributed to in 1943-4. Certainly Victor Musgrave (1919-84), a British artist, curator and critic, took notice and in 1944 Kar divorced Belali, married Musgrave and moved to London. Here she began to specialise in photographing artists and writers who were part of London's Soho scene. In 1954 she exhibited images of Forty Artists from Paris and London. In 1957 the Observer commissioned her to take photographs in Armenia, where she turned her attention to the rural communities, and this series of photographs gave her work a new focus. Three years later she showed at the Whitechapel Art Gallery - the first ever solo photography exhibition at a major art gallery in London - exhibiting black-and-white portraits of artists including Germaine Richier (1904-59), Sandra Blow (b.1925), Alberto Giacometti (1901-66), George Braque and Man Ray. Also included were examples of some of her work from Armenia and Russia. The exhibition was a resounding success, receiving much press attention.

  This self-portrait dates from that period and has an upbeat, contemporary feel. Kar liked to photograph her sitters at home or in the studio using natural light, and here we see her staring at us, her body balanced somewhat awkwardly on a minimalist wooden kitchen surface. The strong illumination creates dramatic chiaroscuro and, with the angles created by the corner of the room, forces the attention of the viewer to the centre of the image where Kar holds in pride of place her Roliflex camera. There is a satisfying simplicity to this work, an openness to recording the bare bones of the situation: the light, the camera, the person. Kar's work improved the status of photography in Britain, and her documentation of artists is a valuable resource. This portrait is part of her archive, which is held at the National Portrait Gallery.

Placesback to top

• Place made and portrayed: United Kingdom: England, London (sitter's home, 20 D'Arblay Street, London)

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

• Mirror Mirror: Self-portraits by women artists (12 September 2001 - 20 January 2002)

Portrait setback to top

• Photographs by Ida Kar, 1960s-1970s

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Jewellery - Rings
• Science, appliance and technology
• Science, appliance and technology - Photography and film
• Self-portraits
• Shadows

Events of 1962back to top

Current affairs

Art and science

International

Comments back to top