Yousuf Karsh, master photographer of the 20th century
Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and photographer Bryan Adams was born on this day, November 5, in 1959. With as many as 100 million record sales, Adams is among the best-selling music artists, and his photography has been published worldwide.
Broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite was born on this day, November 4, in 1916 (d. 2009). He served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years, from 1962 to 1981. A poll taken in 1972 named him “the most trusted man in America” – more so than the president at that time, Richard Nixon.
John Glenn returned to space on October 29, 1998, as a payload specialist on Space Shuttle Discovery, nearly four decades after he became the first American to orbit the Earth.
In 1995, Glenn was reading Space Physiology and Medicine, a book written by NASA doctors. He realized that many changes that occur to physical attributes during space flight, such as loss of bone and muscle mass and blood plasma, are the same as changes that occur due to aging. Glenn thought NASA should send an older person on a shuttle mission, and thought that it should be him. Starting in 1995, he began lobbying NASA director Dan Goldin for the mission. Goldin said he would consider it if there was a scientific reason, and if Glenn could pass the same physical examination the younger astronauts took. Glenn performed research on the subject, and passed the physical examination. On January 16, 1998, NASA Administrator Dan Goldin announced that Glenn would be part of the STS-95 crew; this made him, at age 77, the oldest person to fly in space. (Wikipedia)
Colonel John Glenn was photographed by Karsh at the Manned Spacecraft Center in New York. See more.
On October 6, we held a celebration of Estrellita’s life at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Arthur Miller was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter. Among his most popular plays are All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (1955). He wrote several screenplays and was most noted for his work on The Misfits (1961). The drama Death of a Salesman is considered one of the best American plays of the 20th century. Miller was born on this day, October 17, in 1915 (d. 2005). He was photographed by Karsh for “American Legends.”
The Walt Disney Company was formed as an animation studio 102 years ago today by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Oliver Disney. Disney now operates the largest television and film studio in Hollywood.
This stamp, featuring a detail from Karsh’s “Smiling Churchill” portrait, is coming soon from France’s mail service La Poste. “International Letter stamps allow you to frank your mailings worldwide.” Most people are more familiar with the belligerent Churchill portrait, but after Churchill’s initial outrage at having a portrait thrust upon him, he relaxed and permitted Mr. Karsh to take one more photograph, saying, “You could even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed.” Read more.
Clyde F. Barker was the University of Pennsylvania’s longest-serving Chair of the Department of Surgery where he initiated the University’s transplant program by performing a kidney transplant, one of only a small number in the world that still functioned 50 years later. Barker died this month at the age of 93.
Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist and Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel was born on September 30, in 1928 (d. 2016). Karsh noted in American Legends: “In his book-lined study, I found an erudite storyteller, a Holocaust survivor who has retained a bittersweet sense of life and placed it in the service of worldwide peace and human rights.”
Please join Julie Grahame, Senior Representative for the Estate of Yousuf Karsh, for a talk at the National Arts Club in New York City on October 28, 2025, at 12pm, as part of the Club’s exhibition “Influence and Identity | Twentieth Century Portrait Photography from the Bank of America Collection,” which includes nine Karsh photographs alongside those of Avedon, Abbott, Steichen, and more.
The talk will include Karsh’s own anecdotes, including the remarkable tale of the making of his famous 1941 portrait of Winston Churchill.
The event is free and open to the public but you must register here.
On this day in 1789, the Judiciary Act establishing the Supreme Court of the United States was passed by Congress and signed by President George Washington. Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-2023) was the first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice, from 1981 to 2006, and her portrait has just recently been added to this website.
On September 15, 1978, boxer Muhammad Ali defeated Leon Spinks at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans to win the world heavyweight boxing title for the third time in his career, the first fighter ever to do so.
This Karsh portrait of Ali is currently on-view at New York’s National Arts Club. Free and open to the public, the exhibition, “Influence and Identity Twentieth Century Portrait Photography from the Bank of America Collection,” includes ten Karsh prints along with works from Richard Avedon, Edward Steichen and many more. Now through November 26, 2025.
Karsh wrote of his meeting with Muhammad Ali, “I photographed (Ali) in 1970, as part of a series of young people for ‘Look’ Magazine… Muhammad Ali arrived at my New York studio with a breathless young editor trailing behind. They had jogged together from the ‘Look’ offices, the young editor carrying Ali’s heavy portable telephone which Ali said kept him in ‘constant contact with the world.’ Since the editor was a slight young man, I smiled to myself as I imagined this improbable duo and the incredulous stares of the passers-by as they made their way up Madison Avenue. ‘The Greatest’ and I talked about his triumphs, about patent medicine, about the commercials he was making, but there was for me no real contact. The pinstriped suit he wore for our sitting was chosen not for business but to command the respect he rightly felt he deserved.”
For 125 years, New York’s National Arts Club has been providing “art for all.” Now through November 26, 2025, they are showing a selection of prints in an exhibition titled “Influence and Identity: Twentieth Century Portrait Photography from the Bank of America Collection.” We are thrilled to report there are ten Karsh portraits in the show, including Jacques Cousteau, Georgia O’Keeffe, Winston Churchill, Pablo Casals, and Muhammad Ali. This is the largest number of Karsh prints on-view in New York for some time.
The Arts Club is free and open to the public with extended hours this Saturday, September 13, from 10am – 4pm, for Community Day. Go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Tilden Mansion, a National Historic Landmark, and enjoy live music, kids’ activities, see the exhibition, and more.
Scottish biologist, physician, microbiologist, and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in September, 1928, going on to share the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain. Fleming was photographed at St. Mary’s Hospital in London.
Yousuf Karsh photographed dozens of subjects related to the world of medicine, including several Nobel Prize winners. All 15,000+ sittings are searchable on this website. See a second portrait of Alexander Fleming, or search on a keyword such as “medicine” and see who you find!
Da’Vine Joy Randolph is an American actress who was named one of 100 most influential people in the world by Time in 2024. Randolph closed out last weekend’s “Filming Italy Venice Award” red carpet in a custom blush Alfredo Martínez gown. According to the Red Carpet Fashion Awards website, “Inspired by a 1958 portrait of Italian icon Gina Lollobrigida shot by Yousuf Karsh, this gown was a nod to cinematic history.”
Randolph gained recognition for her portrayal of psychic Oda Mae Brown in the Broadway production of Ghost (2012), for which she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
On August 28, 1962, Yousuf and Estrellita Karsh were married. They met in March 1961 when Karsh was in Chicago on assignment to photograph Dr. Walter C. Alvarez. As Alvarez’ medical editor, Estrellita helped bring his writing to millions of readers through his syndicated newspaper columns, articles and books – she had a talent for turning complex scientific ideas into accessible content for everyday readers.
In Maria Tippett’s biography “Portrait in Light and Shadow” it is noted that their courtship had “an unpromising beginning,” with Estrellita later recalling she was “past the panic side of twenty-five” and quite content with her independent lifestyle. After 15 months of Yousuf traveling to Chicago and Estrellita visiting Ottawa, they married. The wedding was officiated by Bishop Fulton Sheen at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.
Incidentally, press photographer William Lovelace’s portrait of the couple was the first image to be sent from New York to the Daily Express’s headquarters in London via the satellite Telstar, which had been launched earlier that year.
Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908 (d. 1973). Johnson was highly successful in passing domestic legislation including Medicare, Medicaid, legislation expanding civil rights and public broadcasting.
Leonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. He was photographed by Karsh in 1985, the year that Bernstein received his Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. It was also the year that Bernstein brought the European Community Youth Orchestra on a “Journey for Peace” tour across Europe and Japan, performing at the Hiroshima Peace Ceremony to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the bombing.
Bernstein was born on this day, August 25, in 1918 (d. 1990).
Rosalynn Carter was an American writer, activist and humanitarian who served as the first lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981, as the wife of President Jimmy Carter. Throughout her decades of public service, she was a leading advocate for women’s rights and mental health. Carter was born on this day, August 18, in 1927 (d. 2023).
The Princess Royal turns 75 this week.
Anne had two children with her husband Mark Phillips: Peter and Zara, who are pictured here at Balmoral Castle in 1987 with their cousins, Prince William (left) and Prince Harry (seated), and Her Majesty the Queen with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Ralph Johnson Bunche was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Israel. Bunche was born on this day, August 7, in 1903 (1971).
He is the first Black Nobel laureate and the first person of African descent to be awarded a Nobel Prize. Bunche was involved in the formation and administration of the United Nations and played a major role in both the decolonization process and numerous peacekeeping operations sponsored by the UN. In 1963, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President John F. Kennedy.
At the UN, Bunche gained such fame that Ebony magazine proclaimed him perhaps the most influential African American of the first half of the 20th century.
See our other Bunche portraits.
Andy Warhol was born on this day, August 6, in 1928. Karsh photographed Warhol in 1979, ten years after Warhol founded Interview magazine, whose office at 860 Broadway, NYC, is noted in Karsh’s original records.
Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela on July 18, 1918. The South African anti-apartheid activist and politician served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. Mandela was photographed by Karsh in June, 1990, just four months after Mandela’s release from prison. Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister of Canada at the time, greeted Mandela at the airport and accompanied him to the Chateau Laurier for his portrait. Read what happened.
When Mandela died in 2013, Apple used this Karsh portrait on their home page to commemorate the great man’s life.
Apollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida, on July 16, 1969, and the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. Karsh photographed the crew, Michael Collins, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong, in September of that year.
“Les années vençoises” refers to the period when Marc Chagall lived and worked in Vence, France, from 1949 to 1966. This period is being celebrated in an exhibition titled “Chagall, les années vençoises. Une renaissance méditerranéenne,” which is on view now through November 2, 2025 at the Musée de Vence – Fondation Emile Hugues. Karsh’s portrait is on display, along with the “paravent,” or screen, seen here.
Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer Rudolph Nureyev is widely regarded as one of the greatest ballet dancers of all time. On this day, June 16, in 1961, he defected to the West. This was the first defection of a Soviet artist during the Cold War, and it created an international sensation.
Karsh’s original record for this sitting reads: Rudolph Nureyev Appearing with National Ballet in Montreal performance, For National Ballet of Canada project.
Jacques Cousteau was born on this day, June 11, in 1910. Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. Karsh photographed Cousteau and his two sons, Jean-Michel and Philippe, in January, 1972. Jacques Cousteau died aged 87, and his legacy includes more than 120 television documentaries, more than 50 books, and an environmental protection foundation.
Robert F. Kennedy had scored major victories when he won both the California and South Dakota presidential primaries on June 4, in 1968. He addressed his supporters in Los Angeles shortly after midnight on June 5, and upon leaving the address, he was shot three times; he died on June 6, 1968.
Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independence from the Dutch colonialists. A statesman, orator, revolutionary and nationalist, he was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was born on this day, June 6, in 1901 (d. 1970).
Charles Joseph “Joe” Clark is a Canadian businessman, writer, and retired politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. He also served as leader of the Official Opposition from 1976 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1983. Clark was preceded and succeeded by Pierre Trudeau.
Clark was born on this day, June 5, in 1939.
The Calgary Stampede takes place next month. The Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The event’s roots are traced to 1886, and in 1953 Karsh photographed “Stampede Week” for Macleans Magazine.
American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker Jasper Johns was born on this day, May 15, in 1930. He was photographed for the “American Legends” project in 1990, the year that Johns was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
94 year-old American investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett is stepping down as CEO of conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. The sixth-richest person in the world, Buffett will remain as the chairman, a position he has held since 1970.
Buffett was photographed by Karsh in 1990 for Karsh’s “American Legends” series. See the other sitters.
J. Edgar Hoover died on this day, May 2, in 1972 (b. 1895). He was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. He was appointed as the director of the Bureau of Investigation – the FBI’s predecessor – in 1924 and was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director for another 37 years until his death.
Hoover became a controversial figure as evidence of his secretive abuses of power began to surface… Hoover also established and expanded a national blacklist and was also found to have routinely violated both the FBI’s own policies and the very laws which the FBI was charged with enforcing.
Karsh photographed Hoover in 1944 on assignment for LIFE magazine. See other people who sat for Karsh and LIFE.
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His father was the founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. Mehta was born on this day, April 29, in 1936.
George Clooney recently made his Broadway debut playing Edward R. Murrow in a stage adaptation of Clooney’s 2005 film, “Good Night, and Good Luck.” Edward Roscoe Murrow was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe for the news division of CBS. “Good Night, and Good Luck” takes its name from the signature sign-off phrase Murrow used to end many of his wartime broadcasts.
We are pleased to announce the donation of 47 photographs to the Boston Public Library.
Made possible by the generous support of the Associates of the Boston Public Library, this gift was donated by Karsh’s late wife Estrellita Karsh in honor of Peter Brown, former chairperson of the Associates.
The donation includes literary greats Ernest Hemingway, George Bernard Shaw, John Steinbeck, Marguerite Yourcenar, Ken Kesey and Pearl S. Buck. Read more at BPL’s website.
Our dear Estrellita Karsh died peacefully at her home in Boston on Friday, March 28, 2025, surrounded by close friends and beloved caregivers. She leaves a huge hole in our hearts, and her sharp memory and wit will be sorely missed. Enjoy this interview she recorded with MFA Boston for Karsh’s centenary exhibition and book “Karsh 100: A Biography in Images.” Estrellita’s official obituary is below.
She was a brilliant, formidable soul who never ceased to search for ways she could improve the lives of others. Anyone who was fortunate enough to meet her would know that she was a big personality in a tiny package – ebullient, joyful, energetic, and fun, with a great sense of humor and strong opinions. Despite the lofty world in which she travelled, she was down to earth and enjoyed close relationships with everyone she found to be genuine, whether a celebrity or a salesperson.
Estelle Nachbar, known for most of her life as Estrellita Karsh, left her childhood home in New Jersey at the age of 16 for Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. After graduating in 1952 with a BA in English Literature, her passions for writing and medical history led her to Chicago to work for the distinguished physician Dr. Walter C. Alvarez. As his medical editor, she helped him bring to millions of readers, through his syndicated column, the reassuring clinical wisdom and compassion that had made him a beloved and world-famous diagnostician at the Mayo Clinic.
Estrellita had a knack for making difficult scientific concepts exciting and readable to the layperson, and collaborated with the doctor on his current best sellers. When Armenian-born Canadian Yousuf Karsh arrived to photograph Dr. Alvarez, “Something else clicked beside the shutter.” (Newsweek). On August 23, 1962, at a wedding officiated by Fulton J. Sheen, Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Dr. Alvarez gave away the bride, and Yousuf and Estrellita blended their worlds, each adding a new dimension to the other. From that moment on, Estrellita was not just a devoted partner, she was a great champion of her husband’s work.
From 1982 to 1996 they lived in a third-floor suite at the Chateau Laurier, Ottawa (now known as the Karsh suite) and maintained a home called Little Wings in Ontario and an apartment and studio in Manhattan. Estrellita’s editorial skills helped Yousuf bring form to his thoughts and her organizational and research skills were put to good use planning Yousuf’s trips and schedules so that work was always complemented by new discoveries. On all their travels over the years – whether to Africa, Japan, Russia, Finland, Scandinavia, Egypt – they pursued their joint interests in archaeology, art, and medicine. In 1997, they moved to Boston, which Yousuf had always considered his “second home,” and they became deeply involved in the Boston medical and cultural community. Estrellita continued to write articles and lecture on medical history, with her carefully concealed scholarship transforming research in old tomes into engaging and modern social history. They enjoyed theater and fine dining with friends, and were often found in the galleries of the Museum of Fine Arts. There, Estrellita and Yousuf founded the first prize for a student of photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, a lecture series bringing the world’s preeminent photographers to Boston, and endowed several curatorial positions, all of which became the Karsh Center for Photography at the MFA. At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Estrellita volunteered her knowledge and interest in support of nursing, women’s health, and neonatal intensive care. Inspired by her belief that art could ease the stress and anxiety felt by patients and family alike, Estrellita took great joy installing art at the Brigham – photographs by Mr. Karsh, work by students and faculty of the SMFA, and reproductions from the MFA’s collection.
A champion of nurses and nursing care, she endowed the Karsh Visiting Scholar Nursing Program and the Nora Donnelly Excellence in Nursing award at the Brigham. Her philanthropy was far reaching, with gifts of Yousuf’s portraits not only to the MFA, Boston – which houses the finest collection and archive of his work – but also to the National Portrait Gallery, London, National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Princeton University Art Museum, and the Boston Public Library, among others; she also endowed the Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Department of Emergency Medicine at The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, supported the Women’s Lunch Place in Boston, and the Harvard Medical Library. A collector in her own right, Estrellita was among the first Americans to collect Inuit art, which she delighted in exhibiting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Estrellita leaves a close circle of devoted friends and caregivers, and a generation of young people touched by her interest and confidence in them. She will be remembered with love and gratitude by many. Mrs. Karsh will be interred in a private burial at Notre-Dame Cemetery in Ottawa; a memorial service will be held in Boston at a date to be announced.
Dr. Melvin Calvin, the American biochemist known for the Calvin cycle, was born on this day, April 8, in 1911 (d. 1997). The Calvin cycle of photosynthesis is a series of chemical reactions that convert carbon dioxide and hydrogen-carrier compounds into glucose. With his colleagues Andrew Benson and James Bassham, they were awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Dr. Calvin was one of four scientists honored with a U.S. Postal Service stamp, in 2011; the Karsh portrait of him features in the background.
John Updike was born on this day, March 18, in 1932. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author published around 60 books including novels, children’s books, and poetry, as well as writing for various magazines.
Updike was photographed by Karsh in 1984 for Esquire Magazine. See other people Karsh photographed for Esquire.