The Eye of Istanbul: Magical images from the lens of photojournalist Ara Güler

‘I believe that photography is a form of magic by which a moment of experience is seized for transmission to future generations,’ Güler once said when asked to explain his art

Children playing in Tophane, Istanbul, in 1986 (Pictures by Ara Güler)

Renowned as the “Eye of Istanbul”, the work of late photojournalist Ara Güler has been on show at the Saatchi Gallery in London before embarking on a worldwide showing.

Güler, who passed away in October last year at the age of 90, was known by many as one of the greatest photojournalists of his time, working for Time Life magazine, Paris Match and Magnum Photos. He was awarded the title “Master of Leica” in 1962 and, in 1999, was honoured with the Turkish “Photographer of the Century” award.

Capturing the daily lives of Turkey’s working class through the years, Güler also worked as a portrait photographer, intimately depicting the most famous and influential individuals of the 20th century. “I believe that photography is a form of magic by which a moment of experience is seized for transmission to future generations,” he once said when asked to explain his art.

The exhibition not only places special emphasis on Güler’s striking images of Istanbul, but also gives prominence to fascinating scenes from Anatolia and different parts of the world. It also offers a selection of significant historical portraits, including Picasso, Dali, Aşık Veysel and Nazım Hikmet. The London exhibition features portraits of John Berger, Bertrand Russell, Winston Churchill and Alfred Hitchcock, all of whom have left an indelible mark on the UK’s history and cultural life.

The exhibition of Güler’s works, hailed by the British Journal of Photography as one of the seven greatest photographers in the world, was established by the Turkish presidency. The Europe minister Alan Duncan and Turkish ambassador Ümit Yalçın opened the exhibition at the famous art venue, and while underlining that Güler is one of the best photographers in the world, Duncan said Güler never thought of himself as an artist.

“He saw himself as a visual historian, as a photojournalist. He put the plight of his fellow men at the heart of his visual histories, particularly in his evocative black and white portraits of Istanbul, hustling and bustling in the age before the nasty motor car.”

Following the exhibition in London, Güler’s work will move to Paris’ Polka Gallery in late May. The third exhibition will be beyond Europe’s borders, at Kyoto’s Tofukuji Temple. Late June will mark the opening of this exhibition, at the time when the G20 Summit is held in Japan. The fourth iteration is to be held in New York in late September, at the Smithsonian National American Indian Museum, and is expected to attract large crowds from different cultures and nations from across the world, who will visit New York on the occasion of the UN General Assembly. The exhibition will then meet art lovers at Rome’s Trastevere Museum at the end of the year, and finally at the Turkish embassy in Mogadishu by 2020.

The Ara Güler Exhibition runs at the Saatchi until 5 May