Micha Bar-Am
Encyclopedia
Micha Bar-Am (born 1930 Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Germany) is a renowned Israeli journalistic photographer. His most prominent pictures are from when he covered the Six Day War. His pictures are not so much of direct combat, but more of wartime life.

Early life

Born in Berlin, he moved to the then British Mandate of Palestine in 1936. In Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

's War of Independence, he was part of the Palmach Unit. He worked several jobs including a locksmith and mounted guard before becoming a photographer. In 1949 he co-founded the kibbutz Malkia
Malkia
Malkia is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located near the Lebanese border and Kiryat Shmona, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 329....

 in Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...

, and later he became a member of Kibbutz Gesher HaZiv
Gesher Haziv
Gesher HaZiv is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Situated in the Western Galilee on the coastal highway between Nahariya and the Lebanese border, opposite the Akhziv National Park, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council...

.

Photography career

He started taking pictures in the early fifties using borrowed cameras to photograph life on a kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...

 until he bought a Leica. In 1948 he was drafted, and after his military service he began photographing more seriously. After publishing his book Across Sinai in 1957 he worked as a photographic reporter and in the editorial staff of the Israeli Army magazine, Ba-Mahaneh from 1957 to 1967. In 1961 he was assigned to cover the Eichmann trial. In 1967 he covered the Six-Day war
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...

, during which time he met Cornell Capa
Cornell Capa
Cornell Capa was a Hungarian American photographer, member of Magnum Photos, and photo curator, and the younger brother of photo-journalist and war photographer Robert Capa. Graduating from Imre Madách Gymnasium in Budapest, he initially intended to study medicine, but instead joined his brother...

. He became the photographic correspondent from Israel for the New York Times in 1968, a position he held until 1992. In 1974 he helped Cornell Capa
Cornell Capa
Cornell Capa was a Hungarian American photographer, member of Magnum Photos, and photo curator, and the younger brother of photo-journalist and war photographer Robert Capa. Graduating from Imre Madách Gymnasium in Budapest, he initially intended to study medicine, but instead joined his brother...

 found the International Center of Photography in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. From 1977-92, he was also head of the department of photography at the Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

 Museum of Art. He now does his own photography. He has also been a correspondent for Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices located in New York, Paris, London and Tokyo...

 since 1968.

Of his photojournalism he writes, "I keep my internal eye open for that other, metaphorical image that transcends illustration to achieve a wholeness of its own. I strive for the elusive entity that is both evidence and evocation, public record and personal vision." He says that he has adopted Robert Capa
Robert Capa
Robert Capa was a Hungarian combat photographer and photojournalist who covered five different wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the First Indochina War...

's saying, "If your photographs aren't good enough, you weren't close enough," but has added his own caveat: "If you're too close you lose perspective. It is not easy to be fair with the facts and keep your own convictions out of the picture. It is almost impossible to be both a participant in the events and their observer, witness, interpreter. The effort bring great frustration, and equally great reward."

Personal life

Bar-Am is married to Orna, an artist. Together they have three sons, Ahuva, a professor of classics, Barak, an artist, and Nimrod, a Doctor of Philosophy.

Awards

  • 2000--Israel Prize
    Israel Prize
    The Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...

     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

  • 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 Erets-Yisrael/Ariel, 1984
  • The Jordan, Israel: Massada Ltd., 1981
  • Portrait of Israel, USA: New York Times/American Heritage Press, 1970
  • Across Sinai, Israel: Hakibbutz Hameuhad, 1957

Collections

  • Israel Museum
    Israel Museum
    The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....

    , Jerusalem, Israel
  • Tel Aviv Museum of Art
    Tel Aviv Museum of Art
    The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was established in 1932 in a building that was the home of Tel Aviv's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff. The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art opened in 1959. The museum moved to its current location on King Saul Avenue in...

    , Tel Aviv, Israel
  • Haifa Museum
    Haifa Museum
    The Haifa Museum of Art , established in 1951, is located in a historic building built in the 1930's in Wadi Nisnas, Downtown Haifa...

    , Haifa, Israel
  • Diaspora Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • The Museum of Photography at Tel Hai, Tel Hai Kibbutz, Israel
  • International Center of Photography
    International Center of Photography
    The International Center of Photography is a photography museum, school, and research center in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...

    , 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
    George Eastman House
    The George Eastman House is the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in Rochester, New York, USA. World-renowned for its photograph and motion picture archives, the museum is also a leader in film preservation and...

    , Rochester, USA
  • Skirball Museum, Los Angeles, USA
  • Minneapolis Institute of Arts
    Minneapolis Institute of Arts
    The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is a fine art museum located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a campus that covers nearly 8 acres , formerly Morrison Park...

    , 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
    Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme
    The Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme is a French museum of Jewish art and history located in the Hôtel de Saint-Aignan at 71, rue du Temple in the Marais district in Paris. The museum is open daily except Saturday . An admission fee is charged...

    , Paris, France
  • Collection FNAC, Paris, France
  • Fundacion “La Caixa”, Barcelona, Spain
  • National Maritime Museum
    National Maritime Museum
    The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...

    , London, UK
  • Magnum Photos: Photographic Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, USA

External links


See also

  • List of Israel Prize recipients
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