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Yousuf Karsh

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Template:Short description Template:Use Canadian English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person

Yousuf Karsh Template:Post-nominals FRPS (DecemberTemplate:Nbsp23, 1908Template:SndJulyTemplate:Nbsp13, 2002) was an Armenian–Canadian photographer known for his portraits of notable individuals. He has been described as one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th century.<ref name="Time Berman"/><ref name="latimes"/>

An Armenian genocide survivor, Karsh migrated to Canada as a refugee. By the 1930s he established himself as a significant photographer in Ottawa, where he lived most of his adult life, though he traveled extensively for work. His iconic 1941 photograph of Winston Churchill was a breakthrough point in his career, through which he took numerous photos of known political leaders, men and women of arts and sciences. More than 20 photos by Karsh appeared on the cover of Life magazine, until he retired in 1993.

Early life and arrival in CanadaEdit

Yousuf KarshTemplate:Efn was born to Armenian parents Amsih Karsh (1872–1962), a merchant, and Bahia Nakash (1883–1958), on December 23, 1908, in Mardin, Diyarbekir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire.Template:Refn His father was Catholic, while his mother was Protestant.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He had two brothers, Jamil and Malak;<ref name="biog"/> the latter was also a photographer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His illiterate father travelled extensively to trade furniture, rugs, and spices, while his mother was "an educated woman, a rarity in those days, and was extremely well read, particularly in her beloved Bible."<ref name="biog"/>

The city's Armenian population was largely Arabic-speaking.<ref name="Adalian"/> He grew up during the Armenian genocide, during which some of his family were murdered.<ref name="cbc.ca"/><ref name="gg.ca"/> "My recollections of those days comprise a strange mixture of blood and beauty, of persecution and peace," he later wrote.<ref name="biog"/> Karsh and his family escaped to a refugee camp in Aleppo, Syria in 1922 in a month-long journey with a Kurdish caravan.<ref name="Adalian"/><ref name="ottawacitizen"/><ref name="telegraph"/> The Economist's obituary said Karsh "thought of himself as an Armenian".<ref name="economist"/> According to Vartan Gregorian: "Although he was proud to be Canadian, Karsh was equally proud to be Armenian."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Karsh was sent to Canada by his family.<ref name="latimes" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on December 31, 1923, by ship from Beirut.<ref name="ottawacitizen2009" /> He immediately moved to Sherbrooke, Quebec to live with his maternal uncle George Nakashian (Nakash), a portrait photographer.<ref name="people" /><ref name="ottawacitizen" /><ref name="guardian" /> He attended Sherbrooke High School for a year and his "formal education was over almost before it began."<ref name="biog" /> By the time he reached Canada, he "spoke little French, and less English" and "had no money and little schooling."<ref name="biog" /> Karsh worked for, and was taught photography by his uncle.<ref name="canadianencyclopedia" /><ref name="nyt obituary" /> He gave Karsh a Box Brownie camera.<ref name="economist" /> From 1928 to 1931, Karsh apprenticed in Boston, Massachusetts for John H. Garo, the most prominent Armenian photographer in America at the time who had made a name for himself photographing Boston celebrities.<ref name="Adalian" /><ref name="canadianencyclopedia" /><ref name="artic" />

CareerEdit

File:Yousuf-Karsh.jpg
Karsh in 1938

Karsh settled in Ottawa, initially working for photographer John Powis;<ref name="Burant 2022">Template:Cite book</ref> his first commissions were from local Ottawa theatre groups.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> Karsh opened his first studio in 1932.<ref name="nyt obituary"/><ref name="canadianencyclopedia"/> It was located on the second floor of a building at 130 Sparks Street, which was later named the Hardy Arcade.<ref name="ottawacitizen2009"/> He remained there until 1972, when he moved to the Château Laurier.<ref name="canadianencyclopedia"/> He was known professionally as "Karsh of Ottawa",<ref name="gg.ca"/><ref name="guardian"/><ref name="ottawacitizen"/><ref name="irishtimes"/> which was also his signature.<ref name="people"/>

He achieved initial success by capturing the attention of Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, who helped Karsh arrange photography sessions with visiting dignitaries.<ref name="Time Berman"/> Karsh was also introduced into the Rideau Hall social circle, and his portraits of Lord Bessborough, Governor General from 1931 to 1935, and his wife were widely published.<ref name="Burant 2022"/> Karsh became a member of the Ottawa Camera Club and exhibited works in the International Salon of Photography exhibitions held at the National Gallery of Canada from 1934 onwards.<ref name="Burant 2022"/>

Throughout his life, Karsh photographed "anyone who was anyone."<ref name="economist"/> When asked why he almost exclusively captured famous people, he replied, "I am working with the world's most remarkable cross-section of people. I do believe it's the minority who make the world go around, not the majority."<ref name="guardian"/> He once also jokingly remarked, "I do it for my own immortality."<ref name="people"/> By the time he retired in 1992, more than 20 of his photos had appeared on the cover of Life magazine.<ref name="Time Berman"/>

Karsh's photos were known for their use of dramatic lighting, which became the hallmark of his portrait style. He had studied it with both Garo in Boston<ref name="canadianencyclopedia"/><ref name="gallery.ca"/> and at the Ottawa Little Theatre, of which he was a member.<ref name="guardian"/><ref name="nyt obituary"/> Before a sitting, Karsh researched his subjects and talked to them.<ref name="Nayeri"/> He also often used props in his portraits, some of which were emblematic of his sitters' professions.<ref name=":0" />

File:Sir Winston Churchill - 19086236948.jpg
Karsh's portrait of Winston Churchill, titled The Roaring Lion, December 30, 1941

His 1941 photo of Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, brought him international prominence.<ref name="slate"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The photograph was taken on December 30, 1941, in the Speaker's chamber of the Speaker of the House of Commons in the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa after Churchill delivered a speech on World War II to the Canadian members of the parliament. It was arranged by Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.<ref name="telegraph"/><ref name="ottawacitizen"/> Churchill is particularly noted for his posture and facial expression, which have been compared to the wartime feelings that prevailed in the UK: persistence in the face of an all-conquering enemy. The photo session was short and, just before exposure, Karsh moved towards Churchill and removed the cigar which was in his mouth. Churchill was miffed and showed his displeasure in the portrait.<ref name="economist"/>

The photo, which according to The Economist is the "most reproduced portrait in the history of photography",<ref name="economist" /> has been described as one of the "most iconic portraits ever shot".<ref name="ottawacitizen" /> USC Fisher Museum of Art described it as a "defiant and scowling portrait [which] became an instant icon of Britain's stand against fascism."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It appeared on the cover of the May 21, 1945, issue of Life,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> which bought it for $100.<ref name="economist" /> One of the first prints of the original currently hangs on the wall in the Speaker's chamber of the Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, where the iconic image was photographed.<ref name="ottawacitizen" /> It is considered Churchill's most famous picture and appears on the Bank of England £5 note.<ref name="Nayeri" />

On August 19, 2022, it was discovered that a Karsh-signed portrait residing in the reading room of the Château Laurier, Ottawa, had been stolen and replaced with a fake. A staff member noticed that the frame on the portrait did not match the other five portraits donated by Karsh in 1998. Jerry Fielder, the director of Karsh's estate, immediately recognized that the Karsh signature on the portrait was a forgery. Two years later Ottawa police announced that the photo had been located in Italy and had arrested an Ontario man in connection with its theft.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="w652">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The accused thief, Jeffrey Wood, pled guilty on March 14, 2025.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Yousuf Karsh.jpg
Karsh in 1936

During World War II, Karsh photographed political and military leaders and began capturing photos of writers, actors, artists, musicians, scientists, and celebrities in the post-war period.<ref name="artic"/> His 1957 portrait of the American novelist Ernest Hemingway, taken at Hemingway's Cuban home Finca Vigía,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> is another well-known photo by Karsh.<ref name="cbc.ca"/> According to Amanda Hopkinson it made Hemingway look like the hero of his 1952 novel The Old Man and the Sea.<ref name="guardian"/> His other notable portraits include George Bernard Shaw at an old age (1943), Dwight D. Eisenhower as a five-star general and Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force (1946), American artist Georgia O'Keeffe in her New Mexico studio (1956), and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev swathed in fur (1963).<ref name="nyt obituary"/> In 1984, Karsh photographed the Canadian rock band Rush for their album Grace Under Pressure.

Besides portraits of the famous, Karsh photographed assembly line workers in Windsor, Ontario, commissioned by the Ford Motor Company of Canada.<ref name="ottawacitizen"/> He also shot photos for Canadair that were used in an advertising campaign.<ref name=":0" /> His landscape photographs of Rome and the Holy Land were included in books in collaboration with Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, an annual poster for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and other works.<ref name="telegraph"/>

Karsh closed his studio at Château Laurier in June 1992.<ref name="canadianencyclopedia" /> His penultimate sittings in May 1993 were with President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary.<ref name="sitting">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He was a visiting professor at Ohio University and at Emerson College in Boston.<ref name="nyt obituary"/>

Of the 100 most famous people of the 20th century according to International Who's Who (2000), Karsh photographed 51.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Among them were Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Walt Disney, Princess Elizabeth (future Queen Elizabeth II), Leonid Brezhnev, Nikita Khrushchev, Martin Luther King, Fidel Castro, Yuri Gagarin and others.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

GalleryEdit

Personal lifeEdit

File:Yousuf and Estrellita Karsh with Ronald Reagan.jpg
Yousuf and Estrellita Karsh with President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1983.

Karsh's first marriage was to Solange Gauthier (1902−1961) in 1939.<ref name="people" /><ref name="slate" /> He met her at the Ottawa Little Theatre in 1933,<ref name="npg uk" /> where she was a performer. Gauthier was born in Tours, France and migrated to Canada as a young girl.<ref name="Solange">Template:Cite news</ref> They initially moved into her apartment and in 1940, into an Art Deco home called Little Wings on the Rideau River just outside Ottawa.<ref name="ottawacitizen2009" /> She died in January 1961 of cancer.<ref name="Solange" />

His second marriage was to Estrellita Maria Nachbar, a medical writer 21 years his junior, in August 1962.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Their wedding was officiated by Fulton J. Sheen, Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York. From 1972 to 1992 they lived in a third-floor suite at Château Laurier, Ottawa<ref name="cbc.ca" /><ref name="ottawacitizen" /> and maintained Little Wings and an apartment and studio in Manhattan. They had no children.<ref name="people" /> Estrellita Karsh died in March 2025, at the age of 95.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Retirement and deathEdit

Karsh retired making photographs in 1993 and moved to Boston in 1997.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He died on July 13, 2002, at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston after complications following surgery.<ref name="nyt obituary" /><ref name="latimes" /> A private funeral was held in Ottawa.<ref name="latimes" /> He was interred in Notre-Dame Cemetery in Ottawa.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

RecognitionEdit

File:Bust of Yousuf Karsh in Ottawa (2).jpg
A bust of Karsh, a gift from Armenia, unveiled before Château Laurier, Ottawa, in 2017

Karsh has been recognized as Canada's leading portrait photographer.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In general, he is recognized as one of the best-known<ref name="latimes"/> and great<ref name="Time Berman"/> portrait photographers of the 20th century. The Economist wrote upon his death that Karsh was "for half a century perhaps the greatest portrait photographer in the monumental manner".<ref name="economist"/> The website of the Governor General of Canada describes him as the "pre-eminent portrait photographer of the twentieth century".<ref name="gg.ca"/> The Metropolitan Museum of Art described him as "one of the greatest portrait photographers of the twentieth century [who] achieved a distinct style in his theatrical lighting".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Canadian Encyclopedia noted that his portraits "have come to represent the public images of major international figures of politics, science, and culture in the twentieth century".<ref name="canadianencyclopedia"/>

By the time of his death, his work was included in numerous museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art (both in New York), National Gallery of Canada, National Portrait Gallery in London, National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, Art Institute of Chicago, Saint Louis Art Museum, Muscarelle Museum of Art, George Eastman Museum, and elsewhere.<ref name="nyt obituary"/> In 1987 the National Archives of Canada acquired the complete collection of Karsh items, including the negatives, prints and transparencies produced and retained by Karsh since 1933.<ref name="canadianencyclopedia"/> The current Library and Archives Canada collection has 355,000 items in its Karsh collection, including all of his 150,000 negatives,<ref name="slate"/> kept at a facility in Gatineau, Quebec.<ref name="cbc.ca"/> Karsh's widow Estrellita gifted more than 100 photographic prints to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.<ref name="Nayeri"/>

He was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (UK).<ref name="nyt obituary"/><ref name="guardian"/>

On June 9, 2017, a bust of Karsh by Canadian-Armenian sculptor Megerditch Tarakdjian was unveiled before Château Laurier, Ottawa. It depicts Karsh with his famous camera and is a gift to Canada from the people of Armenia on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the 150th anniversary of Canada. Among attendees were George Furey, the Speaker of the Senate, and Arif Virani, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Karsh Award, dedicated to Yousuf and his brother Malak Karsh, is awarded by the City of Ottawa every two years to an established professional artist for outstanding artistic work in a photo-based medium.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

AwardsEdit

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Karsh was awarded honorary degrees from Dartmouth College (1961),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ohio University (1968),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Tufts University (D.F.A., 1981),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Syracuse University (D.F.A., 1986),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ohio State University (Doctor of Humane Letters, 1996),<ref>Template:Cite journal Alt URL</ref> University of Hartford (1980),<ref name="KarshAwards"/> University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1979),<ref name="KarshAwards"/> Bishop's University (1969),<ref name="KarshAwards"/> Emerson College,<ref name="KarshAwards"/> Queen's University,<ref name="KarshAwards"/> Carleton University,<ref name="KarshAwards"/> Mount Allison University,<ref name="KarshAwards"/> Dawson College.<ref name="KarshAwards">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Karsh has been inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

PublicationsEdit

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  • Faces of Destiny (1946)
  • Portraits of Greatness (1959)
  • In Search of Greatness (1962)
  • Karsh Portfolio (1967)
  • Faces of Our Time (1971)
  • Karsh Portraits (1976)
  • Karsh Canadians (1978)
  • Karsh: A Fifty-Year Retrospective (1983)
  • Karsh: American Legends (1992)
  • Karsh: A Sixty-Year Retrospective (1996)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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