In photos: The works of Ara Guler to be auctioned in Istanbul

An auction, organised by Istanbul Muzayede, will take place online at 8pm Turkish time on July 12, 2020. The job lot will comprise forty six prints of the legendary photojournalist, who died in 2018 at the age of 90.

Ara Guler at the cafe he owned, Ara Cafe, in Beyoglu, Istanbul, 2012.

Ara Guler at the cafe he owned, Ara Cafe, in Beyoglu, Istanbul, 2012.

A collection of photographs by the famed photographer and photojournalist, Ara Guler, will be up for auction on July 12, 2020, in Istanbul.

An almost all black and white collection, the photographs document life in Istanbul and other cities in Turkey through the lens of one of the country’s most celebrated artists. 

Istanbul Muzayede is organising the auction, which will be held online due to the necessary coronavirus precautions that need to be observed. The sale will be limited to buyers within Turkey due to the code of protection of cultural and natural properties.

Lot winners can collect their photographs at Istanbul Muzayede’s Nisantasi offices, or ask the auction house to deliver locally. Transporting items to out-of-town destinations may prove to be more costly, but they will still be arranged.

Ugur Yegin, the owner of Istanbul Muzayede, tells TRT World in an emailed statement that the auction is unique in that it offers forty six of Guler’s photos printed on acid-free, museum-grade paper – this can last from 100 to 300 years. They will also carry his wet signature.

“In the past, you would have had to go from gallery to gallery to collect individual pieces, or follow up on auctions from which among hundreds of objects an Ara Guler print might emerge,” he says. “It is also possible to purchase prints copied from original prints at the Ara Guler Museum.”

The bidding prices start from 400TL ($58.25) and will range to 4000TL ($582.46). Yegin says they plan to organise auctions of other photographers in the future.

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Ara Guler named “A horse carriage and a tram in Sirkeci on a winter’s day”, from 1956, his favourite.

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“Ankara Kaleici, bread and gun” was shot in 1970.

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“Separation at Galata Pier,” 1955.

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“The chief garbage man in Ayvansaray Roma neighbourhood,” 1969.

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“The boatmen of Halic, the old Galata Bridge and the New Mosque,” 1956.

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“A ship and workers at the caulking yard in Karakoy”, 1957.

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“Country folk watching boats from the old Galata Bridge,” 1956.

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“Leather workers at Kazlicesme,” 1990.

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“Corner cafe at Beyoglu’s Passage Hazzopulo,” 1966.

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“Kumkapi fishermen return to port at first light”, 1950.

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“Woman and Allah”, 1956.

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“A drunkard at Koltuk Meyhane in Tophane,” 1959.

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