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Karsh of Ottawa!
Yousuf Karsh was born in Mardin, Armenia in 1903. While a teenager he fled an unsafe environment, arriving in Canada in 1924. His original career choice was to be a doctor but that wasn't financially feasible. An uncle paid for him to study photography with John Garo in Boston. After three years in Boston Karsh returned to Ottawa and opened his own photography studio in 1932. While in Boston he had been taught to use available light when taking photographs. It was through his association with the Ottawa Little Theatre that Karsh was introduced to the use of incandescent lighting. He went on to become the master of black and white portrait photography because of his talent and his incredible knack for perfection in his lighting for each subject. He worked steadily in Ottawa and then one day he photographed Winston Churchill and the rest truly is history.
World War II raged as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill posed for one of the most famous photographic portraits ever taken. Churchill had just addressed the Canadian Parliament thanking them for their support and naturally asking for more. It was this speech where Churchill said, "the French say in three weeks’ time England will have her neck wrung like a chicken." He dramatically paused and replied to the challenge, "Some chicken, some neck!" After the speech Yousuf Karsh was waiting. Churchill apparently was not briefed on the photo session as Karsh recalled in his autobiography. The British Lion kept a cigar clamped in his mouth, not what the photographer wished, and offered to pose for one picture. Karsh walked up to Churchill and, as diplomatically as possible given the circumstance, whilst requesting forgiveness he plucked the cigar out of the PM's mouth and then returned to take the photo capturing the glowering Winston Churchill. The PM's response was to grant Karsh permission to take another one. Remarking to his photographer, "you can even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed". Karsh was surprised at the world-wide recognition he received and he was nicknamed "Karsh of Ottawa". Following the used of his Churchill portrait in Life, that captured the essence of the British stiff upper lip during wartime, Karsh was in demand and traveled the world photographing the leaders, artists, celebrities; the famous and infamous. Jerry Fielder, Yousuf Karsh Curator, says "Karsh traveled to London in 1943 with his portable studio-over 300 pounds of equipment consisting of an 8x10 view camera and a wide array of lights, film holders, stands, and tripods. Some fifty years later, Karsh was asked about lighter digital photography and whether he would have welcomed it. He replied he was in favor of anything that would make his task easier, but that the quality of the photograph always depended on the eye and sensibility of the photographer and not on his equipment.
"The trip to England was the first of hundreds of photographic odysseys in Karsh's sixty year career. Among the portraits made at this time were historic photographs of the British Royal Family, including King George VI and his two teenage daughters, Princess Margaret Rose and Princess Elizabeth. The future Queen Elizabeth II would sit before his camera five more times over a span of almost 50 years years. The now classic portraits of George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells and Noel Coward were also taken during this trip. Karsh's practice of photographing his subjects in their own environment and the rapport he established with his sitters enabled him to capture their 'inward power, part of the elusive secret that hides in everyone.... The mask we present to others, and too often to ourselves, may lift for only a second-to reveal that power in an unconscious gesture, a raised brow, a surprised response, a moment of repose.' "The empathy Karsh established with his sitters came naturally. He had great sensitivity and an instinctive understanding of each person who sat before his lens. He quickly established an atmosphere of trust so that the sitting became a true collaboration. "As can be seen in this exhibition, Karsh was not only a uniquely gifted photographer, but also a superb printer. He was exacting in every stage of his work and this artistic talent and technical skill were blended to produce iconic portraits such as those of Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, and Georgia O'Keeffe. These timeless photographs are joined in this exhibition by portraits of statesmen, musicians, writers, scientists, and legends from the visual and performing arts."
Karsh met many of the famous and infamous people of his day. Some made a lasting impression. For example Hemingway was in the words of Karsh, "the shyest man I ever photographed." Jerry Fielder adds, "Karsh worked through his 82nd year and closed his studio in 1992. Dr. Malcolm Rogers, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, wrote, "Karsh lived long and traveled far; his was a life that spanned the Twentieth Century and encompassed the globe." By the time he retired, he had held 15,312 sittings, produced over 150,000 negatives, and left an invaluable artistic and historic document of the men and women who shaped our world. In 1997, he and his wife, Estrellita, relocated to Boston, the scene of his early apprenticeship, where he died in 2002." An opportunity to view international icons photographed by the incomparable Karsh is not to be missed.
Karsh Photographs
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