sat 02/11/2024

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

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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Me again Ken White. I met ida and Victor at Park Street a few times, as I was a friend of John Couzins. John has a web site set up now of his photographs. He was one of Ida's students.

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