Micha Bar-Am Figurative Photography

Rare vintage signed and dated silver gelatin black & white unframed photograph. (printed circa 19730-1981) signed and numbered in ink on recto. Hand developed by or under the personal direction of Micha Bar Am at the studio of acclaimed printer Thomas Consilvio in Beverly Hills, California. In 1981, the negatives were retired and donated by Bar-Am to the permanent archives of the Tel-Aviv Museum, Israel. This one has the feel of a Roman Vishniac photo. Micha Bar-Am (Hebrew: מיכה בר-עם) (born 1930 in Berlin, Germany) is an Israeli journalistic photographer. His images cover every aspect of life in Israel in the past sixty years. Since 1968 he has been a correspondent with Magnum, the photographic cooperative. From 1968 to 1992, he was the New York Times photographic correspondent from Israel. He has published several books of photography, beginning in 1957. His work is held in numerous international museums and institutes throughout the world. Born in Berlin to a Jewish family, Bar-Am moved with his parents in 1936 to then British Mandate of Palestine. He attended local schools. He was drafted in 1948 and served during Israel's War of Independence, when he was part of the Palmach Unit. Afterward, he worked several jobs, including as a locksmith and a mounted guard, before becoming a photographer. In 1949 he co-founded the kibbutz Malkia in Galilee. Later he became a member of Kibbutz Gesher HaZiv. Photography career In the early 1940s, Bar-Am started taking pictures of life on a kibbutz; he used borrowed cameras until he bought a Leica. After his military service, he began photographing more seriously. After publishing his first book, Across Sinai (1957), Bar-Am gained work as a photographic reporter and in the editorial staff of the Israeli Army magazine, Ba-Mahaneh, from 1957 to 1967. In 1961 he covered the Adolf Eichmann trial. In 1967 he covered the Six-Day War, during which time he met Cornell Capa. Many of his war images brought him renown. Since 1968, he has been a correspondent for Magnum Photos. In 1974 he helped Capa found the International Center of Photography in New York City. In 1968, Bar-Am also became the photographic correspondent from Israel for the New York Times, a position he held until 1992. From 1977-92, he was head of the department of photography at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. He says that he has adopted Robert Capa saying, "If your photographs aren't good enough, you weren't close enough," Awards 2000--Israel Prize for photography. 1993—Enrique Kavlin Prize, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel 1985-86--Nieman Fellow, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA 1985—IBM Fellowship, Aspen, Colorado, USA 1985—Golden Flamingo Award for Photographic Poster, Arles, France 1985--Fulbright Grant Books Southward: Micha Bar-Am, Photographs, Israel: The Negev Museum of Art, 2013 Insight: Micha Bar-Am's Israel, London: Koenig Books / Israel: Open Museums, 2011 Israel: A Photobiography, USA: Simon & Schuster, 1998 The Last War, Israel: Keter Publishers, 1996 Painting With Light: The Photographic Aspect in the Work of E.M. Lilian, Israel: Tel Aviv Museum of Art/Dvir Publishing, 1991 Jewish Sites in Lebanon, USA: Moreshet Eretz-Yisrael/Ariel, 1984 The Jordan, Israel: Masada Ltd., 1981 Portrait of Israel, USA: New York Times/American Heritage Press, 1970 Across Sinai, Israel: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1957 Collections Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel Haifa Museum, Haifa, Israel The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot, Tel Aviv, Israel The Museum of Photography at Tel Hai, Tel Hai Kibbutz, Israel International Center of Photography, New York, USA The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester, USA Skirball Museum, Los Angeles, USA Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA Henry Buhl Collection, New York, USA Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme, Paris, France Collection FNAC, Paris, France Fundacion “La Caixa”, Barcelona, Spain National Maritime Museum, London, UK Magnum Photos: Photographic Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, USA This photo is signed. It is from the height of the war. Leonard Freed, Micha Bar Am, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Rubinger...

Crossing the Suez Canal, Yom Kippur War by Micha Bar-Am presents a brief moment of joy amidst a dark time. Two men smile while riding in a car, with other men looking onward with a b...

Artillery Barrage, Suez Canal, Yom Kippur War by Micha Bar-Am depicts soldiers amidst a battle. The men are laying on the ground, ducking for cover in the...