Boris Carmi (; 1 January 1914 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, as Boris Winograd – 18 September 2002 in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

-born Israeli photographer. He is considered as one of the pioneers of Israeli

photojournalism Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

and documented the very beginnings of the foundation of the state of Israel. His work totals around 60,000 negatives in all.

Life

In 1930, aged 16, Carmi left Moscow for

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, travelling via Poland, Germany and Italy. He then studied ethnology at the Sorbonne and at the same time began to take photographs. He travelled to Danzig in 1936, intending to emigrate to Palestine. He was granted permission to do so three years later and arrived there in 1939 aboard a freighter. He worked in a warehouse for several years until he could become a professional photographer. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Carmi served in the British Army, working on

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flight, airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wi ...

and map-making in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. A self-taught photographer, he was the first photographer of ''BeMahaneh'', the newspaper of the

Israeli Army The Israeli Ground Forces () are the Army, ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The commander is the GOC Army Headquarters, General Officer Commanding with the rank of major general, the ''Mazi'', subordinate to the Chief of the Gen ...

, and documented the

1948 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionist forces conquered territory and established the Stat ...

and other contemporary Israeli history. He was one of few photographers active in Israel at this time and recorded historically important moments, construction projects, transit camps and waves of immigration as well as wartime scenes. In 1949 he Hebraized his surname to Carmi. He worked for various newspapers and magazines producing reports on immigrants and their new beginnings and portraits of artists and politicians. From 1952 to 1976, he mainly worked as Chief Editor of a daily newspaper and a leading figure in the Israeli Press Association. During the 1956 war with Egypt he tended to photograph the deserted landscape of the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

with Egyptian soldiers' bootprints rather than casualties or scenes of destruction. In 1959 Carmi held his first solo exhibition in Tel Aviv. In the following decades he produced several further exhibitions and publications, including volumes of portrait and

landscape photography Landscape photography (often shortened to landscape photos) captures the world's outdoor spaces, sometimes vast and unending and other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on human-ma ...

and a children's book entitled ''The wonderful adventures of the flamingos''. From 1960 he also started to photograph international subjects. He was given lifetime achievement awards from the

Tel Aviv Museum of Art The Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( ''Muzeon Tel Aviv Leomanut'') is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of modern and contemporary art both from Israel and around the world. History The Tel Aviv ...

and the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

in Jerusalem. He continued producing photographs until shortly before his death. However, his first solo exhibition in Europe was held posthumously, at the

Berlin Academy of Arts The Academy of Arts () is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The academy's predecessor organization was founded in 1696 by Elector F ...

in 2004 and at the

Jewish Museum Frankfurt The Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main is the oldest independent Jewish Museum in Germany. It was opened by Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl on 9 November 1988, the 50th anniversary of ''Kristallnacht''. The Jewish Museum collects, preserves and commu ...

in 2005. This showed over 100 images, under the patronage of

Johannes Rau Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician who served as President of Germany from 1999 to 2004. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he previously served as the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia fro ...

and

Moshe Katzav Moshe Katsav (; born Musa Qassab; 5 December 1945) is an Israeli former politician and was the president of Israel from 2000 to 2007. He was also a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset and a minister in its cabinet. He was the first Miz ...

References

Bibliography

*Alexandra Nocke (ed.): ''Boris Carmi - Photographs from Israel'', München, New York 2004,

External links

*
Article on Carmi
on Israeli-Art {{DEFAULTSORT:Carmi, Boris 1914 births 2002 deaths Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent War photographers Russian war artists Israeli photojournalists Social documentary photographers Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine University of Paris alumni British Army personnel of World War II Soviet expatriates in France Burials at South Cemetery in Israel Photographers from Moscow