Photography Collections Database

Record Detail

There are more than five million objects in the Harry Ransom Center's Photography Collection. Many records contain legacy descriptions. A review and update of our records is ongoing.

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Call Number:

PH-00079

Collection Name:

Ida Kar Photography Collection

Creator:

Cox, John, active late 1950s-1960s

Kar, Ida, 1908-1974 (1908 - 1974)

Preston, Julieta, 1943-2018

Spek, Klaus, active 1960s

No. of Items:

124 photographs

Span Dates:

1953-1964

Description:

The collection consists of 124 gelatin silver prints by Ida Kar (British, 1908-1974, born Russia) dating from 1953 to 1964. The collection consists largely of portrait photographs featuring prominent men and women associated with the arts, including painters, sculptors, authors, poets, playwrights, composers, and museum directors. These photographs capture Kar's signature style of photographing her subjects in their familiar surroundings relying largely on the natural light of the location, as well as her belief "that a picture naturally dictates its right size and shape" whether that be 20 x 24 inches or over 6 feet. Notable sitters include Henry Moore, Somerset Maugham, T. S. Eliot, Brendan Behan, Barbara Hepworth, Noel Coward, Cecil Beaton, Man Ray, Marc Chagall, Georges Braque, Hans Arp, Moyano, Le Corbusier, Alberto Giacometti, and Jean-Paul Sartre among others.

The collection is subdivided into four lots:
964:0081:0001-0037 -- Loose prints, 1953-1962;
964:0364:0001-0077 -- Exhibition prints from "Ida Kar: Artist with a camera, 1953-1962";
964:0365:0001-0006 -- Loose prints of the Whitechapel Art Gallery (London) exhibition in situ, 1960;
964:0366:0001-0004 -- Photographs of Ida Kar by her assistants Julieta Preston (British, 1943-2018) and John Cox (British?, active late 1950s-1960s), and by Klaus Spek (German?, active 1960s), and 1960-1964.

Also present in the collection are clippings and tear sheets feature Kar and her photographs, and catalogs for exhibitions of her work.

Accession No(s):

964:0081:0001-0037 -- Purchase, 1963; 964:0081:0001-0037; 964:0364:0001-0077; 964:0365:0001-0006; 964:0366:0001-0004; 964:0364:0001-0077 -- Purchase, 1964 (R 3029)

Finding Aid URL:

https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00273

Location(s):

K Box, Extra Large (964:0081:0006)
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Kar, I., Box 1-3
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Flat File (964:0081:0023)
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Vertical storage (964:0364:0001-0077)
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Item(s):

Artist/Maker	Kar, Ida, 1908-1974 (1908 - 1974)
Title	Georges Braque.
Date	1960
Medium	Gelatin silver print
Dimensions	29.1 x 25.5 cm; 11 1/2 x 10 in
Credit line	Gernsheim Collection, purchase
Accession Number	964:0081:0003

Artist/Maker	Kar, Ida, 1908-1974 (1908 - 1974)
Title	Barbara Hepworth
Date	July 1961
Medium	Gelatin silver print
Credit line	Gernsheim Collection, purchase
Accession Number	964:0081:0006

Artist/Maker	Kar, Ida, 1908-1974 (1908 - 1974)
Title	Man Ray.
Date	1954
Medium	Gelatin silver print
Dimensions	30 x 25.4 cm; 11 4/5 x 10 in
Credit line	Gernsheim Collection, purchase
Accession Number	964:0081:0011

Artist/Maker	Kar, Ida, 1908-1974 (1908 - 1974)
Title	Eugene Ionesco.
Date	1960
Medium	Gelatin silver print
Dimensions	29.3 x 24.3 cm; 11 1/2 x 9 3/5 in
Credit line	Gernsheim Collection, purchase
Accession Number	964:0081:0014

Artist/Maker	Kar, Ida, 1908-1974 (1908 - 1974)
Title	[Alberto] Giacometti.
Date	1954
Medium	Gelatin silver print
Dimensions	30.1 x 25.7 cm; 11 9/10 x 10 1/10 in
Credit line	Gernsheim Collection, purchase
Accession Number	964:0081:0015

Artist/Maker	Kar, Ida, 1908-1974 (1908 - 1974)
Title	William Scott.
Date	1961 Sept.
Medium	Gelatin silver print
Dimensions	24.9 x 28.7 cm; 9 4/5 x 11 3/10 in
Credit line	Gernsheim Collection, purchase
Accession Number	964:0081:0016

Artist/Maker	Kar, Ida, 1908-1974 (1908 - 1974)
Title	Marc Chagall [unmounted].
Date	1954
Medium	Gelatin silver print
Dimensions	24.7 x 30 cm; 9 7/10 x 11 4/5 in
Credit line	Gernsheim Collection, purchase
Accession Number	964:0081:0019

Artist/Maker	Kar, Ida, 1908-1974 (1908 - 1974)
Title	Cecil Beaton
Date	1960
Medium	Gelatin silver print
Credit line	Gernsheim Collection, purchase
Accession Number	964:0081:0023

Artist/Maker	Kar, Ida, 1908-1974 (1908 - 1974)
Title	Helmut Gernsheim.
Date	1962 Jan. 13
Medium	Gelatin silver print
Dimensions	24.5 x 29.8 cm; 9 3/5 x 11 7/10 in
Credit line	Gernsheim Collection, purchase
Accession Number	964:0081:0032

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See Also:

Literary Files: Manning, Olivia (980:0102:0010) 6G:LF:Manning, Olivia

Literary Files: London Magazine (980:0097:0002) 6G:LF:London Magazine