Art and designטים נחום גידל

Tim Gidal

Tim Gidal was a German-Israeli photographer and photojournalist who received the Enrique Kavlin Prize for lifetime achievement in photography in 1980.

1909 to 1996Photojournalism across the 20th centuryThe My Village in book seriesPhotographing the British Eighth Army

Born: 18 May 1909, Munich
Died: 4 October 1996, Jerusalem
Occupation: photographer, photojournalist, director

Tim Gidal was born in 1909 in Munich

Gidal was born in Munich as Nachum Gidalewitsch, to a religious-liberal Jewish family that gave him a strong Jewish and Zionist identity. He later took the name Tim and shortened his surname.

He studied history, art history, economics and international law at the universities of Munich and Berlin. In 1935 he wrote a doctorate on picture reporting and the press.

His photography began in 1929, when his brother Georg, a press photographer, lent him a camera. He first came to the Land of Israel in the early 1930s and later did academic research in Switzerland, England, the United States and Israel. He photographed protests, riots and conflicts, including the Jewish-Arab conflict and the All-India Congress led by Mahatma Gandhi.

During World War II he was chief press photographer of the British Eighth Army. After the war his work appeared in Picture Post and Life, where he was an editorial adviser. With his wife Sonia he created the My Village in children's book series and also wrote books on photography and the Land of Israel. He died in 1996.

Milestones in Tim Gidal's life

1909
Born in Munich.
1929
Began working as a photographer with his brother's camera.
1935
Wrote a doctorate on picture reporting and the press.
1980
Received the Enrique Kavlin Prize for lifetime achievement in photography.
1996
Died.

Tim Gidal served in the military

During World War II he was chief press photographer of the British Eighth Army, covering it in North Africa and Burma for the army journal Parade. He was wounded on the Greek island of Samos.