Sittings
Photographs
Legacy
Canadian One Dollar Note in 1954 Featured Both Yousuf and Malak Karsh
The 1954 issue featuring Yousuf’s 1951 portrait of then-Princess Elizabeth In 1954, the Bank of Canada issued its third series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar. The banknotes were designed…
Jonas Salk
Jonas Salk, 1991 On this day, April 26, in 1954, Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine began field trials. “The polio vaccine field trials of 1954, sponsored by the National Foundation for…
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso, 1954 Pablo Picasso was born on this day, October 25, in 1881. Picasso was photographed by Karsh at Villa La Galloise, in July of 1954. “The maestro’s villa…
Earl Warren: Brown v. Board of Education
Earl Warren, 1955 On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision in “Brown v. Board of Education”, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities…
Ruth Draper
Ruth Draper, 1936 In 2019, 25 recordings were added to the United States Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. One of them is Ruth Draper: “Complete recorded monologues” (1954-1956). Joining…
Christopher Plummer, 1929-2021
Christopher Plummer, 1959 Canadian actor Christopher Plummer has died. Plummer made his Broadway debut in 1954, and received multiple accolades including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the…
Vincent Auriol
Vincent Auriol, 1949 Vincent Auriol (1884-1966) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1947 to 1954. Karsh some prolific months in 1949 photographing people in the…
Sports Illustrated
Henry Luce, 1944 August 16, 1954, saw the launch of Sports Illustrated magazine. It was founded by Henry Luce (1898-1967), an American magazine magnate who also founded Time, LIFE, and…
Bank of Canada Honours the Historic Reign of Queen Elizabeth II with Commemorative Note
The Bank of Canada honored the historic reign of Queen Elizabeth II on September 9th, 2015, with the launch of a commemorative bank note. The note is a variation of…
André Malraux
André Malraux, 1954 French novelist and art theorist André Malraux was born on this day, November 3, in 1901. Malraux was appointed by President Charles de Gaulle as Minister of…
Albert Camus
Albert Camus, 1954 French philosopher, author and journalist Albert Camus was born on this day, November 7, in 1913. Three years after he sat for Karsh, Camus would receive the…
Picasso at Paris Photo
Claude Picasso at Paris Photo, 2017, by Robert Klein At this year’s Paris Photo, our representative, Robert Klein, of Robert Klein Gallery, included Pablo Picasso in his booth. A lingering…
Richard Nixon’s Refusal
President-Elect Richard Nixon and Mrs. Nixon, January 1969 On this day, January 4, in 1974, President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents that had been subpoenaed…
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer, 1954 On this day, January 14, in 1875, Albert Schweitzer was born. Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 1952, and his acceptance speech, “The Problem of…
Sir Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin
Sir Alexander Fleming, 1954 On this day, February 14, in 1929, Sir Alexander Fleming first published his discovery of penicillin in the British Journal of Experimental Pathology. Alexander Fleming was…
“We Met in Paris”
Marguerite Yourcenar, 1987 Joan E. Howard is the director of Petite Plaisance, the former home of Marguerite Yourcenar and Grace Frick, and is the author of From Violence to Vision:…
Lenore Tawney
Lenore Tawney, 1959 By request from a client in the Netherlands, these two portraits of American fiber artist Lenore Tawney have been freshly scanned. Tawney began weaving in 1954. Her…
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso, 1954 On June 24, in 1901, Pablo Picasso had his first exhibition in Paris, “Yo Picasso” (I Picasso), at the Galerie Vollard. Karsh photographed Picasso in 1954 at…
Earl Warren
Earl Warren, 1955 October 5th marks the anniversary of Earl Warren’s swearing-in as the 14th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1953. He would sit until 1969. The “Warren…
Walt Disney
Walt Disney, 1954 Animator, voice actor and film producer Walt Disney was born on December 5, in 1901. Disney was photographed by Karsh in May, 1954, two months before construction…
Vivien Leigh
Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, 1954 Academy Award-winning British stage and film actress Vivien Leigh was born on this day, November 5, in 1913. She won two Academy Awards for…
Calgary Stampede
…spread about “the legend a stampede built” and thrillingly the magazine’s archive is available online. Maclean’s, January 1, 1954: “In Calgary’s one zany week of celebration even the neon signs…
Jonas Salk’s First Inoculations
Jonas Salk, 1991 Today marks the 67th anniversary of the first mass inoculation against polio with the Jonas Salk vaccine. It took place on February 23, 1954, at Arsenal Elementary…
Linus Pauling
…of quantum chemistry and molecular biology. He is also one of only two people to be awarded Nobel Prizes in different fields – Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1954; Nobel Peace…
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller, 1944 American businessman and politician Nelson Rockefeller was born on this day, July 8, in 1908 (d. 1979). His Sitting record, dated Mar 30, 1944, states his role…
Earl Warren
Earl Warren, 1955 October 5th marks the anniversary of Earl Warren’s swearing-in as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1953. He would serve until 1969….
André Malraux
Andre Malraux, 1954 French novelist and art theorist André Malraux died on this day, November 23, in 1976 (b. 1901). Malraux was appointed by President Charles de Gaulle as Minister…
“How the Queen Changed the Face of Money”
Queen Elizabeth II has been featured in currency ever since she was a little girl. This Canadian $1 featuring a Karsh portrait from 1951 was first issued in 1954. The…
Mary Martin
Mary Martin, 1960 Some glamor to get us through Hump Day. Mary Martin (1913-1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading…
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway, 1957 The American novelist and journalist Ernest Hemingway was born on this day, July 21, in 1899 (d. 1961). Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s…
Philippe-Guy E. Woog
Mr. and Mrs. Philippe-Guy E. Woog and Carl, 1986 We are always delighted to hear from relatives of Karsh Sitters, especially when the relative was also photographed, as in this…