Nadav Kander HonFRPS (; born 1961) is a London-based photographer, artist and director, known for his portraiture and landscapes. Kander has produced a number of books and had his work exhibited widely. He received an Honorary Fellowship from the

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is the world's oldest photographic society having been in continuous existence since 1853. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as th ...

in 2015, and won the Prix Pictet award.

Life and work

Kander was born 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 ...

, Israel. His father flew Boeing 707s for El-Al but lost his eye and was unable to continue flying. His parents decided to start again in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and moved to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

in 1963. Kander began taking pictures when he was 13 on a

Pentax was a Japanese camera and optical equipment manufacturer. Currently, it exists as the Pentax Life Care Business Division of Hoya's medical endoscope business, as well as the digital camera brand of Ricoh Imaging, a subsidiary of Ricoh. Penta ...

camera, which he bought with his

Bar Mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...

money. He states the pictures that he took then and until he was 17, although unaccomplished, have the same sense of quiet and unease that is part of his work today. After being drafted into the

South African Air Force The South African Air Force (SAAF) is the air warfare branch of South African National Defence Force, with its headquarters in Pretoria. The South African Air Force was established on 1 February 1920. The Air Force saw service in World War II a ...

, Kander worked in a darkroom printing aerial photographs. It was there he became certain he wanted to be a photographer. He moved to London in 1986, where he still resides with his wife Nicole and their three children. Kander is best known for his ''Yangtze - The Long River'' series, for which he earned the Prix Pictet Prize. Kander never photographed farther than twenty miles from the river itself. In the shadow of epic construction projects we see workers, fishermen, swimmers and a man washing his motorbike in the river. Dense architecture gives way to mountains in the upper reaches towards the river's Tibetan source - a sparsely populated area where the stream is mostly broken ice and just ankle deep. The photographs are dominated by immense architectural structures where humans are shown as small in their environment. Figures are dwarfed by landscapes of half completed bridges and colossal Western-style apartment blocks that are rapidly replacing traditional Chinese low-rise buildings and houseboats. In 2010 to 2012 Kander photographed a series of nudes - ''Bodies. 6 Women. 1 Man'' - in his London studio. On 18 January 2009, Kander had 52 full colour portraits published in one issue of ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

.'' These portraits were of the people surrounding US President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, from

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

(Vice President) to

Eugene Kang Eugene Kang (born 1984) was the Special Projects Coordinator and Confidential Assistant to President Barack Obama. Eugene Kang is an Ann Arbor native who attended Greenhills School before enrolling at the University of Michigan. At Michigan, ...

(Special Assistant to The President). This is the largest portfolio of work by the same photographer The New York Times Magazine has showcased in one single issue. In July 2012, Kander exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London with a series of portraits celebrating London's hosting of the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. In 2014 Kander was among the 18 photographers chosen to be a part of ''Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age'', an exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London, and toured, which explored the ability of architectural photography to reveal wider truths about our society. His photography for the 2016

TIME Person of the Year Person of the Year (called Man of the Year or Woman of the Year until 1999) is an annual issue of the American news magazine and website ''Time (magazine), Time'' featuring a person, group, idea, or object that "for better or for worse ...h ...

cover was widely analyzed and acclaimed. Kander is a Trustee of The Lowry in Salford, Greater Manchester.

Publications

Publications by Kander

*''Nadav Kander - Night''. 2000. *''Beauty's Nothing''. Arena Editions, 2001. *''Obama's People''. London: Flowers Gallery, 2010. . *''Yangtze - The Long River''. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2010. . *''Bodies. 6 Women, 1 Man''. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2013. . *''Dust''. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2014. . *''Dark Line - The Thames Estuary''. Flowers Gallery, 2017..

Contributions to publications

*''Contatti. Provini d'Autore'' = ''Choosing the best photo by using the contact sheet''. Vol. II. Edited by Giammaria De Gasperis. Rome: Postcart, 2013. .

Exhibitions

*2001: ''Beauty's Nothing'', Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York *2005: ''Keep Your Distance'', Palais de Tokyo Paris *2005: ''Obama's People'', Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England *2010: ''Obama's People'' - Nadav Kander / ''The Family'' -

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', '' Vogue'' and '' Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and ...

, The Kennedys (museum) Berlin, Germany *2010: ''Prix Pictet Laureates'', Musée de l'Élysée Lausanne, Switzerland *2011: ''Selected Portraits 1999-2011'', The Lowry, Manchester, UK *2011: ''Infinite Balance: Artists and the Environment'', Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego *2011: ''Body Gestures,'' Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Israel *2011: ''Yangtze – The Long River'', Forum Fur Fotografie, Cologne, Germany *2012: ''Road to 2012'',

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

*2013: ''Landmark: Fields of Photography'',

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

, London *2014: ''Yangtze - The Long River'', Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI *2014: ''Dust'', Rencontres d'Arles festival, Arles, France *2014–2015: ''Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age'' ** Barbican Centre, London, 2014 **The Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design, Stockholm, 2015 **Museo ICO, Madrid, 2015 *2015: ''Grace of Intention: Photography, Architecture and the Monument'',

Museum of Contemporary Photography A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

, Chicago *2016: ''Prix Pictet Laureates'', Mouravieff-Apostol House & Museum, Moscow, 2014 *2017: ''Britain In Focus: A Photographic History'', National Media Museum, Bradford, UK *2017: ''Proof of Life / Lebenszeichen Weserburg'', Weserburg Museum, Germany *2017: ''Looking Good: The Male Gaze From Van Dyck to Lucian Freud'', Scottish National Portrait Gallery *2018: ''Powerful Tides: 400 years of Chatham and the sea'', Historical Dockyard, London

Awards

*2002: Terence Donovan Award,

, Bath *2008: Silver Photographer of the Year, Lianzhou International Photo Festival, China *2009: Winner, Prix Pictet 'Earth' 2009 for ''Yangtze - The Long River'' *2009: International Photographer of the Year, 7th Annual Lucie Awards *2011: Photography category, London Awards for Art and Performance, London *2013: 1st Prize, Staged Portraits Singles, World Press Photo, Amsterdam *2015: Honorary Fellowship,

, Bath"The RPS 2015 Awards announced"
Accessed 30 October 2015 *2019: Outstanding Contribution to Photography, Sony World Photography Awards, London

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kander, Nadav 1961 births Living people Israeli photographers Israeli expatriates in South Africa Israeli expatriates in England