Ida Kar: Bohemian Photographer, National Portrait Gallery | reviews, news & interviews
Ida Kar: Bohemian Photographer, National Portrait Gallery
Ida Kar: Bohemian Photographer, National Portrait Gallery
A forgotten, but visionary, viewer
Monday, 14 March 2011
Sir Terry Frost, photographed by Ida KarCopyright National Portrait Gallery
What ever happened to Ida Kar? If the question is not quite on the level of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, perhaps the answer is more interesting, if less melodramatic. Ida Kar - born Ida Karamian in Russia of Armenian parents, resident of Cairo, Alexandria, Paris and Soho, the first photographer to be given a retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery in its heyday under that curator of genius Bryan Robertson – is now, all too often, known as “Ida Who?” even by those who should know better. So, What Did Happen to Ida Kar?
What ever happened to Ida Kar? If the question is not quite on the level of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, perhaps the answer is more interesting, if less melodramatic. Ida Kar - born Ida Karamian in Russia of Armenian parents, resident of Cairo, Alexandria, Paris and Soho, the first photographer to be given a retrospective at the Whitechapel Gallery in its heyday under that curator of genius Bryan Robertson – is now, all too often, known as “Ida Who?” even by those who should know better. So, What Did Happen to Ida Kar?
Kar seems to create the sitters' character out of thin air, marvels of sly, and shy, restraint
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