Jules Kanzler spent part of his life in the Russian Empire as a painter and the other in Turkey as a photographer. He is known not only as a photographer who portrayed the Russian-speaking émigrés of Istanbul but also as a figure who “documented” the early years of the Turkish Republic.
Born in Crimea (one can draw many parallels between him and Semion Lifshitz), the artist studied at Odessa Art School, lived there for some time, and even organised a solo exhibition in France. After the Revolution of 1917, he moved to Istanbul, which he already knew due to the fact that in 1910 he had visited the city in order to participate in one of the local exhibitions. After Kanzler moved to Istanbul, he decided to dedicate himself to photography and open his own photo studio. Firstly, because he was deeply interested in this field, and secondly, because this profession was quite profitable at that time. Kanzler's photo studio moved from one building to another two times but was always located on Istiklal Avenue (previously Grande Rue de Péra). The photo studio was very popular among both Russian émigrés and local residents. The reasons for this were not only Kanzler's strong work ethic and accuracy, but also the uniqueness of his photographic works, which looked more like oil paintings. According to Evren Burçak, he also took photographs of Istanbul, which resembled picture-postcard views rather than images of city life. Seemingly, this was due to his education. In the 1920s, he actively communicated with many Russian émigrés and knew them personally. Thus, some famous artists left their works in his photo studio in order to find clients (in a likely manner Muhsin Ertuğrul met Nikolai Peroff and invited him to work at the Istanbul theatre). Furthermore, photographs from Kanzler's archive were published in the almanac Les Russes sur le Bosphore, a joint work of Russian émigrés in Istanbul.
His talent did not go unnoticed, and soon he was invited to work as a photojournalist to “document” the process of the Turkish Republic's formation and the activities of its founders. The TBMM archive contains an album of photographs taken during the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the Republic’s foundation. Judging by the available sources, which unfortunately are not so numerous, Kanzler was married to a (presumably) Turkish woman, lived near Taksim Square (close to Rudolf Belling), continued to take photographs, and was on friendly terms with Turkish artists. After the Second World War, he moved to California where he continued to make pictures: mainly wedding portraits, and portraits of children and graduating students. Being a member of the local Turkish-American colony, he attended a civic reception on the occasion of the birthday of Celal Bayar in Los Angeles: "There was Jules Kanzler, a photographer who had made pictures of President Bayar during the 26 years he worked in İstanbul" (Anonymous, "Turkish President Meets 500 at Civic Reception", 1954). Unfortunately, there is no information about how his life ended.