Tim Gidal

Tim Gidal was a German-Jewish photographer, publisher and art historian emigrating in 1948 emigrated to New York. Besides his teaching career, he worked as a photojournalist and, along with his wife Sonia Gidal, published youth books.
Given name
Tim
Last name
Gidal
Alternative names
Ignaz Nachum Gidalewitsch, Tim N. Gidal
Date of Birth
18-03-1909
Place of Birth
München (DE)
Date of Death
04-10-1996
Place of Death
Jerusalem (IL)
Profession
PhotographerPublisherArt Historian
Introduction
Tim Gidal was a German-Jewish photographer, publisher and art historian emigrating in 1948 emigrated to New York. Besides his teaching career, he worked as a photojournalist and, along with his wife Sonia Gidal, published youth books.
Word Count: 35
Signature Image

Portrait of Tim Gidal, n.d. (© Tim Gidal Archiv. Steinheim Institut. Photo: Horst Hahn).
Content
Tim and Sonia Gidal arrived in New York in 1948, having led a nomadic life in exile in a number of different countries. Born Ignaz Gidalewitsch in Munich in 1909, Gidal studied art history, history and literature at the Ludwig-Maxmilians University in Munich while setting out on a career as a photojournalist with Münchner Illustrierte Zeitung, for which the later New York émigré photographers Fritz Henle and Fritz Goro (the husband of Carola Gregor) also worked. He travelled widely in Europe and the Middle East, using images from his trips for his first photobook Jüdische Kinder in Israel, published in 1936. In 1935 he finished his PhD with a thesis on the History and Organisation of the Illustrated Press. The thesis later provided the basis for the photo instruction books he went on to produce. His academic and photojournalistic careers were interrupted with the rise of the National Socialist party in Germany. In 1936 he emigrated to Palestine, where he worked as a journalist, photo reporter and teacher of Middle Eastern art history and history. Tim Gidal was not the only photographer who emigrated to Palestine during the 1930s; among others who did so was Ellen Auerbach. After living from 1938 to 1940 in London, where he was a staff photographer for Picture Post magazine and published a reportage on Victoria Station in 1939. After London, he worked in India, Palestine and Ceylon as a foreign correspondent for some magazines. In 1942 he was drafted into the British Army in the Middle East and from 1945 to 1948 once again lived in Jerusalem, working as a journalist, photographer and lecturer. After continuing his historical studies in Basle and London in 1947 and 1948, he finally emigrated in June 1948 from Southampton to the U.S. and settled in Mount Vernon, New York. He married the photographer Sonia Epstein (born 1922) in 1944 and in 1946 their son Peter was born.
Mount Vernon is an inner suburb of New York City and could be reached from Manhattan via the New Haven line. In the neighbouring city, New Rochelle, lived Kurt Safranski, Ernest Mayer and Kurt Kornfeld, co-founders of the Black Star photo agency in New York and a branch in London. As a renowned photojournalist arriving in New York, it is possible that Tim Gidal was already in contact with Black Star. Few of Gidal's images can be found today in the photographic collection of Black Star at the Ryerson Image Center, which does hold portraits by Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud, who taught psychoanalysis in London.
Before her emigration, Sonia Gidal worked as a press photographer in Germany and Israel and, after her arrival in the U.S., she taught arts and crafts at Mount Vernon. Today part of her collected art and cultural objects from her travels are held at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. Sonia and Tim Gidal began their joint venture in book and photobook publishing in 1951 with the children's book A Children’s Village in Israel. Sonia wrote the text while Tim provided photographs as illustrations. This cooperation resulted in a children's literature series My village in … , which started in 1956 with the exile publishing house Pantheon. The first two books were My village in Austria (Pantheon Books, 1956) and My village in India (Pantheon Books,1956). Between 1956 and 1970 25 volumes were published featuring villages around the world. All books have the same structure. On the front endpapers is drawn a detailed plan of the village where the "hero" of the story lives. Then follows an instructive account of life in that village. The text was written by Sonia Gidal, while Tim Gidal was responsible for the photographs. With their experience of living in several countries in exile, the series can be seen as a reflection of the couple's nomadic life. German editions of the series, titled Mein Dorf in … were published by the Orell Füssli publishing house in Zurich from 1961, with 10 titles published up to 1968.
Besides his work as a photojournalist and publisher, from 1955 to 1958 Tim Gidal was also a teacher at the adult education New School for Social Research. His scholarly topics represent his personal interest in and knowledge of Middle Eastern history, as well as his experience as a photojournalist and world traveller, and he offered a wide variety of classes, including on communication, art, history, politics, international relations and foreign countries. In the spring 1956 semester he gave two courses, titled “The New Grand Tour” and “Picture Reporting through the Ages”, and in the 1956 autumn semester “The Traveler in Europe” and “World History as Reflected in the Visual Arts”. In the spring 1957 semester he offered “Picture Communication through the Ages” and “Cartoons as Social Force” and in the autumn semester of the same year “History Reported in Pictures”.
Today these courses can be assigned to the field of visual communication following an interdisciplinary approach between history, literature, photography and journalism. The émigrés Kurt Safranski and Alexey Brodovitch had a similar educational and interdisciplinary approach in their courses at the New School during the 1940s and 1950s. Other émigrés giving lessons in photography and offering courses in photojournalism were Lisette Model, Josef Breitenbach, Charles Leirens and Marion Palfi. The émigrés Fred Stein and Werner Wolff also frequented the New School, showing their commissioned work for the Black Star photo agency, and the German émigré Erika Stone was a student there.
In 1970 Tim Gidal returned to Israel, where he taught visual communication at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. After his divorce from Sonia Gidal in 1970, he married Pia Lis in 1980. A letter he wrote to the émigré photographer Lotte Jacobi describes his life and the photographic projects he was involved in, for example his Juden in Deutschland exhibition, which was presented in several locations in Germany in the 1980s. It is possible that Gidal and Lotte Jacobi, also an emigrant living in New York, might have known each other in Germany before their emigration.
Word Count: 976
Media

Cover of My village in Austria by Sonia and Tim Gidal (Pantheon, 1956).

Plan of the village printed in My village in Austria by Sonia and Tim Gidal (Pantheon, 1956).

Title page of My Village in India by Sonia and Tim Gidal (Pantheon, 1956).

Announcement for “The New Grand Tour” course by Tim Gidal. New School Bulletin, vol. 13, no. 18, Spring 1956, p. 30 (© New School course catalog collection, NS-05-01-01. The New School Archives).

Announcement for “Picture Reporting Through The Ages” course by Tim Gidal. New School Bulletin, vol. 13, no. 18, Spring 1956, p. 49 (© New School course catalog collection, NS-05-01-01. The New School Archives).

Letter from Tim Gidal to Clara W. Mayer, 1957/58 ( © Clara Mayer Papers. Gidal, Nahum T., 1957-1958, Box: 4, Folder: 27. The New School Archives, Photo: Helene Roth).
Bibliography (selected)
Auer, Anna. Fotografie im Gespräch. Klinger, 2001.
Displaced Visions. Émigré Photographers of the 20th Century, edited by Nissan N. Perez, exh. cat. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2013.
Dogramaci, Burcu, and Helene Roth. “Fotografie als Mittler im Exil: Fotojournalismus bei Picture Post in London und Fototheorie und -praxis an der New School for Social Research in New York.” Vermittler*innen zwischen den Kulturen, special issue of Zeitschrift für Museum und Bildung, vol. 86–87, 2019, pp. 13–44.
Gervais, Thierry. The Making of Visual News. A History of Photography in the Press. Translated by John Tittenson, Bloomsbury, 2017.
Milton, Sybil. “The Refugee Photographers, 1933–1945.” Kulturelle Wechselbeziehungen im Exil – Exile across Cultures, edited by Helmut F. Pfanner, Bouvier, 1986, pp. 279–293.
Schaber, Irme. “‘Die Kamera ist ein Instrument der Entdeckung…’. Die Großstadtfotografie der fotografischen Emigration in der NS-Zeit in Paris, London und New York.” Exilforschung. Ein internationales Jahrbuch, vol. 20: Metropolen des Exils, edited by Claus-Dieter Krohn et al., edition text + kritik, 2002, pp. 53–73.
Unbelichtet. Münchner Fotografen im Exil, edited by Tajana Neef, exh. cat. Jüdisches Museum München, Munich, 2010.
Werneburg, Brigitte. “LIFE: Leben in der Emigration. Deutsche Fotojournalisten in Amerika.” (unpublished manuscript, 1991). werneburg.nikha.org. Accessed 15 February 2021.
Word Count: 188
Archives and Sources
[url=https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/168 ]Clara Mayer papers, NS.02.01.01, box 4, The New School Archives and Special Collections, The New School, New York, New York[/url].
Sonia and Tim Gidal Papers, de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection, University of Southern Mississippi Libraries.
Tim Gidal Photographic Collection. Steinheim Institut für deutsch-jüdische Geschichte, Essen.
Tim Nachum Gidal, Photographic Collection. Museum Folkwang, Essen.
Word Count: 64
Acknowledgements
My deepest thanks go the Tim Gidal Archive from to the Steinheim Institut für jüdische Geschichte for providing me with photographic material.
Word Count: 24
Author
Helene Roth
Exile
Palestine, Israel (1936–1938); London, GB (1938–1940); India,Ceylon, Palestine, Israel (1940–1942); Middle East (1942–1945); Jerusalem, Israel (1945–1947); London, GB and Basel, Schwitzerland (1947–1948); New York, US (1948–1970); Jerusalem, Israel (1970–1996).
Known addresses in Metromod cities
180 Pearsall Drive, Mount Vernon, New York (1948–1970).
Metropolis
New York
Helene Roth. "Tim Gidal." METROMOD Archive, 2021, https://archive.metromod.net/viewer.p/69/2948/object/5138-9615884, last modified: 26-04-2022.
Kurt Safranski
Picture AgentFounding MemberTeacherCartoonistPublisherIllustrator
New York
Kurt Safranski was one of the founding members of the Black Star photo agency, a teacher at the New School for Social Research and the author of photojournalistic articles and books.
Word Count: 31
Josef Breitenbach
Photographer
New York
On arriving in New York in 1941, the German photographer Josef Breitenbach tried to restart as a portrait, street and experimental photographer, as well as a teacher of photo-history and techniques.
Word Count: 30
Lisette Model
Photographer
New York
Lisette Model was an Austrian-born photographer who lived in New York with her husband Evsa Model after emigrating from France. Her street photographs capturing the curiosities of everyday life quickly caught the interest of museums and magazines.
Word Count: 37
Alexey Brodovitch
PhotographerArt DirectorGraphic Designer
New York
Alexey Brodovitch was a Belarus-born émigré graphic artist, art director and photographer who, from 1933, worked in New York for Harper’s Bazaar magazine and at the New School for Social Research.
Word Count: 31
Charles Leirens
PhotographerMusicianMusicologist
New York
Charles Leirens was a Belgian-born musician and photographer who emigrated to New York in 1941. While publishing two books on Belgian music, he also gave courses in musicology and photography at the New School for Social Research.
Word Count: 36
Marion Palfi
Photographer
New York
Marion Palfi was a German émigré photographer who lived in New York from the 1940s to the 1960s. Her photographic engagement in social and political topics made her name for her use of the camera to draw attention to social injustices.
Word Count: 41
Lotte Jacobi
Photographer
New York
In October 1935 the German émigré photographer Lotte Jacobi, together with her sister Ruth Jacobi, opened a photo studio on 57th Street. The two sisters had to leave their parents' photo studio in Berlin in the 1930s and emigrated to New York.
Word Count: 41
Ellen Auerbach
Photographer
New York
When she arrived in New York in 1937, the German-born photographer Ellen Auerbach (formerly Rosenberg) had already passed through exile stations in Palestine and Great Britain.
Word Count: 25
Lilo Hess
Photographer
New York
The German émigré Lilo Hess was an animal photographer working for the Museum for Natural History and the Bronx Zoo, as well being a freelance photographer and publisher of children's books.
Word Count: 31
Carola Gregor
PhotographerSculptor
New York
The German émigré photographer Carola Gregor was an animal and child photographer and published some of her work in magazines and books. Today her work and life are almost forgotten.
Word Count: 30
Trude Fleischmann
Photographer
New York
Trude Fleischmann was an Austrian-Jewish portrait and dance photographer who emigrated in 1939 to New York, where she opened a studio in Midtown Manhattan with the photographer Frank Elmer.
Word Count: 28
Henry Rox
PhotographerSculptor
New York
Henry Rox was a German émigré sculptor and photographer who, in 1938, arrived in New York with his wife, the journalist and art historian Lotte Rox (née Charlotte Fleck), after an initial exile in London. Besides his work as a sculptor, he began creating humorous anthropomorphised fruit and vegetable photographs.
Word Count: 50
Chinatown U.S.A.
Photobook
New York
Chinatown U.S.A. is a photobook published by the German émigré photographer Elizabeth Coleman in 1946 focusing on American-Chinese communities in New York and San Francisco.
Word Count: 26
5th Avenue
Photobook
New York
5th Avenue was the first photobook by Fred Stein and was created in 1947 with the publishing house Pantheon Books.
Word Count: 19
J.J. Augustin Incorporated Publisher
Publishing House
New York
J.J. Augustin was a German publishing house in Glückstadt with a long history, going back to 1632. In 1936 the American branch opened in New York with a large artistic and cultural focus.
Word Count: 33
Pantheon Books
Publishing House
New York
Pantheon Books was a publishing house founded in 1942 by the German émigré Kurt Wolff (1887–1963) and aimed at the exiled European community in New York.
Word Count: 24
New School for Social Research
Academy/Art SchoolPhoto SchoolUniversity / Higher Education Institute / Research Institute
New York
During the 1940s and 1950s emigrated graphic designers and photographers, along with artists and intellectuals, were given the opportunity to held lectures and workshops at the New School for Social Research.
Word Count: 31
Werner Wolff
Photographer
New York
Werner Wolff was forced to leave Germany in 1936 due to his Jewish background and emigrated via Hamburg to New York, where he could follow his career as photographer and photojournalist.
Word Count: 30
Erika Stone
Photographer
New York
Erika Stone is a German émigré, who moved to New York with her parents and sister in December 1936, at the age of 12. She went on to carve out a career as photographer.
Word Count: 32
Fred Stein
PhotographerLawyer
New York
Always accompanied by his camera, the German émigré photographer Fred Stein discovered New York City during the 1940s and 1950s. His pictures provide an human and multifaceted view of the metropolis.
Word Count: 31
Fritz Henle
Photographer
New York
Fritz Henle was a German Jewish photographer who emigrated in 1936 to New York, where he worked as a photojournalist for various magazines. He also published several photobooks of his travels throughout North America and Asia.
Word Count: 35
Kurt Kornfeld
PublisherPicture AgentFounding Member
New York
Kurt Kornfeld was a publisher and literary agent and a founding member of the Black Star photo agency in New York City after his emigration in 1936 to New York.
Word Count: 29
Ernest Mayer
Picture AgentFounding MemberPublisher
New York
Ernest Mayer was co-founder of the Black Star Publishing Company photo agency, which built a network for émigré photographers and the American magazine scene from the mid-1930s until the end of the 1950s.
Word Count: 34
Black Star Agency
Photo Agency
New York
The German émigrés Kurt S(z)afranski, Ern(e)st Mayer and Kurt Kornfeld founded Black Star in 1936. The photo agency established was a well-run networking institution in New York.
Word Count: 31
Black Star Publishing Company London
Photo Agency
London
The 1936 New York-founded Black Star Publishing Company photo agency opened a European branch in London the same year in response to the high demand for foreign images in the U.S.
Word Count: 31
“The Life of a Station.”
Photoessay
London
Photographer Tim N. Gidal’s first reportage for Picture Post magazine after his emigration to London was devoted to Victoria Station, observing travellers and their companions as they depart and arrive.
Word Count: 31

Archive

Archive

Tim Gidal