Ara Güler’s photos sold at online auction

ISTANBUL

The first interview photo of the late photographer Ara Güler found a buyer for 20,532 Turkish Liras at an online auction organized by Istanbul Müzayede on July 12.

At the auction, 46 wet-signed and 100 percent cotton-based natural fiber-free museum-class prints were on sale. Also, some Istanbul photographs believed to be by celebrated French photographer Marc Riboud, a close friend of Güler, were at the auction.

The highest amount of offer was for the photograph titled “Kumkapı Fishermen Are Returning to the Port in the First Lights of the Morning,” which took 17 bids. The first interview photo, taken by Güler in 1950, had a cost of 20,532 liras with the commission and tax to the buyer, who gave the highest amount of 14,500 liras.

The “Mount Ararat,” which the artist took in 1988, found a buyer for 6,500 liras as the only color photo in the selection.

In the auction, the photos named “Horse Carriage and Tramy in a Winter Day in Sirkeci,” dated 1956, and “Bosphorus Ferryboat Departing from Kandilli at Dusk,” dated 1956 were sold for 11,500 liras.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency ahead of the auction, Uğur Yeğin, a Turkish art collector and owner of Istanbul Müzayede said that Güler’s photographs had never been auctioned in Turkey in this quantity before.

“It’s possible to see the photos printed by Ara Guler in the collections of some private museums and galleries,” he added.

According to Yeğin, if one wanted to possess a wet-signed and sealed Ara Güler photo, they should either visit the galleries and try their luck, or follow the Ara Güler photos that are rarely put on auction among hundreds of other works.

The Istanbul-based Ara Güler Photography Museum also offers copies from the original prints, he added.