Van Leo

Van Leo (born Levon Alexander Boyadjian; November 20, 1921 – March 18, 2002) was an Armenian-Egyptian photographer who became known for his numerous self-portraits and portraits of celebrities of his time.

Biography and career Born in November 1921 in the Ottoman Empire, Van Leo grew up during an era of Armenian genocide and persecution and had to flee with his family at the age of 4 to take refuge in Egypt. It was only due to his father's privileged social position as a worker for a German-owned Baghdad railway Company that Levon and his family escaped the genocide in the Ottoman Empire. In Egypt, Levon attended the English Mission School followed by the English Mission College. It was at the English Mission College, around the age of 16 or 17, after having bought Hollywood postcards of famous film star that Levon discovered his interest in photography. Fascinated by Hollywood and the world of cinema, Levon decided to put his studies on hold, after having been enrolled in the American University in Cairo in 1940 to pursue his passion. Levon undertook an apprenticeship at Studio Venus owned by a famous Armenian photographer named Artinian before opening his own studio with his brother Angelo in January, 1941, in the living room of their apartment. Most of the brothers' clientele were transitory WWII soldiers and officers, and entertainers and high society of the Opera who were often brought via the Entertainment National Service Association to entertain the soldiers and officers of the British troops. In 1947, the partnership ended between the 2 brothers and Levon established his own studio, for which and from which he later go the name Van Leo.

During the early years of his studio, Van Leo would often take portraits of people, some of which were celebrities, for free, for the sake of advertisement of his new studio. Actors, actresses, entertainers from the Opera were his favorite clientele for they were in constant need of new pictures for their productions. One condition maintained for Van Leo's free work was that a visible credit would be shown under each photograph and as such his name became associated with the celebrities. After the Egyptian coup d'état of 1952, Van Leo's clients mainly became individuals from the higher strata of the Egyptian society, and popular faces like writers, scholars, also actors and actresses maintained their dealings with the photographer (Rushdi Abaza, Dalida, Taha Hussien, Omar El Sherif). Out of necessity, he also had to start doing passport and ID work, wedding portraits, portraits for soldiers and officers of the Egyptian Armed Forces, and even reproductions of photos the deceased brought by their loved ones.

Van Leo was known for his black and white portraits and the end of the black and white era and the emergence of color caused a significant shift in Van Leo's life and career. To Van Leo, artistic photography ended in Egypt with the changeover. Despite many photographers embracing the change, Leo's bias towards black and white clearly led to a noticeable decline in the output and quality of his work. Not only did his bias stand in his way, but the loss of control associated with the emergence of color, and his lack of strobes led to the ultimate decline in his work. Because of the changeover, Van Leo had to trade his familiar hand-produced prints from his darkroom to an operator in a commercial color lab. Secondly, he did not own or invest in modern strobes to improve output or lighting of his work, but rather clung to his old tungsten light equipment. which was accompanied by the catalog published by the same title. Most recently, Van Leo was the subject of a major retrospective at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, organized by Negar Azimi.

Collection and archives Van Leo's photographs and lifetime collection was bequeathed to the American University in Cairo in 1998. The Rare Books and Special Collections Library is currently digitizing his photographs. A subset of images exists at the Beirut-based Arab Image Foundation.

Awards Van Leo was honoured with a Prince Claus Award in 2000. He was the first photographer ever to win the prestigious prize.