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February 9, 2010 |
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Created and Maintained by: The Photoimaging Information Council |
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by Erica Wright |
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In 1995, at a memorial honoring the recently assassinated Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin, a 40x60 photograph of Rabin hung behind the podium. During her speech, Rabin's widow Lea pronounced, "When I look at that portrait by Al Gilbert, I think my husband's alive." Praise doesn't get much higher.  Yitzhak Rabin © Al Gilbert
For nearly half a century, Gilbert has been photographing the prime ministers of Israel, working through security, setting, and even occasional spouse difficulties to create his memorable images. In 1958, when he received the phone call to photograph David Ben-Gurion at a hotel in Toronto, he only had a few hours to prepare. He expected to photograph the prime minister alone, but found instead that Ben-Gurion was having a meeting with ten other people. In addition to this audience, Ben-Gurion's wife Paula was in attendance. She questioned Gilbert about why he was bothering her husband, but the prime minister graciously intervened for the young photographer. He asked Gilbert how many photographs he would like to take. When Gilbert suggested four, Ben-Gurion replied that he could take five. This foray into photographing high-ranking Israeli officials foreshadowed both the successful shots Gilbert would capture over the years as well as the obstacles around which he would have to maneuver.  David Ben-Gurion © Al Gilbert
His next assignment was Abba Eban, the first Israeli representative to the United Nations and the recipient of the Israel Prize, the nation's highest honor. When Gilbert arrived to photograph the diplomat, he saw instantly that Eban's glasses needed to be cleaned before they began. When Eban handed over the specs, they fell apart. Miraculously, Gilbert managed to find all the pins, repair the glasses, and take the photograph, further cementing his reputation in the eyes of Israeli officials.  Abba Eban © Al Gilbert
Because Gilbert had already proved himself with Ben-Gurion and Eban, arrangements to photograph Prime Minster Levi Eshkol were made easily. However, when Gilbert arrived at the airport where the shoot was to take place, he realized that eyeglasses would once again present a problem—Eshkol's thick lenses would never photograph well. Thinking on his feet, Gilbert ran into an optometrist's shop across the street and borrowed a pair of frames without lenses. The trick worked, and the image turned out so well that it later became an Israeli stamp.  Levi Eshkol © Al Gilbert
Although the technology that Gilbert has used to photograph high-ranking Israeli officials has certainly changed over the years (he photographed Ben-Gurion with a 4x5 viewfinder and now uses an Olympus E1), the necessity of improvisation has remained. With Golda Meir the problem was décor—all blue and likely to reflect that color onto the prime minister's face. Gilbert solved the problem with white napkins, which Meir started removing as soon as she sat down. Nonetheless, Gilbert managed to snap a photo of the prime minister, cigarette in hand, before she fully dismantled his makeshift set. This image remains one of his favorites.  Golda Meir © Al Gilbert
Photographing Menachem Begin presented difficulties more serious than table settings. Gilbert was scheduled to photograph Begin in Toronto during the Camp David Accords, so tensions were high. Begin arrived on a Sabbath, and Gilbert had to wait until sundown to get his shot. During the shoot, Begin's wife Aliza questioned Gilbert in a style reminiscent of Ben-Gurion's wife Paula so many years earlier. More confident than he was then, Gilbert turned the camera on her. When Aliza died in 1982, Gilbert sent Begin one of the photographs, which the former prime minister deemed the finest picture ever taken of his wife.  Menachim Begin © Al Gilbert
No assignment in his series caused as great a difficulty as Shimon Peres. This was Gilbert's first shoot in Jerusalem, and as you might imagine, arrangements for anything in Israel's capital are subject to last-minute changes because of security issues, particularly when a prime minister is involved. Meeting times are something of a gamble. Although Gilbert did indeed have a chance to photograph Peres, scheduling a session with Ariel Sharon a few years later proved impossible.  Shimon Peres © Al Gilbert
A few sessions over the years have gone off without a hitch, including former Israeli President Chaim Herzog and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whom Gilbert photographed during a Toronto speech. The Herzog image became Gilbert's second to grace an Israeli stamp.  Chaim Herzog © Al Gilbert
The veteran photographer looks forward to adding even more portraits to what is now an impressive and historically important series. The state of Israel was created in 1948, the same year that Gilbert decided that he and his son should start collecting stamps. Little did Gilbert suspect that one day he would see his own photographs on some of those collected pieces. But considering Gilbert's meticulous attention to detail over the years—which prompted him to scurry across a street in search of lens-less frames and situate napkins to solve a color-scheme problem among other last-minute arrangements—the quality of every image in his series is hardly surprising. And certainly worthy of that coveted spot in the upper right-hand corner of thousands of Israeli envelopes.
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