The Karsh Award honors the artistic legacy of Yousuf Karsh and his brother Malak Karsh, while continuing an intergenerational chain of mentorship that fosters camera-based innovation.

Seven past Karsh Award laureates have selected seven emergent artists, Joi T. Arcand, AM Dumouchel, Leslie Hossack, Olivia Johnston, Julia Martin, Meryl McMaster and Ruth Steinberg, who will be featured in Continuum: Karsh Award artists welcome a new generation, an upcoming exhibition curated by Melissa Rombout at the City of Ottawa Karsh-Masson Gallery. The artists met with Mrs. Karsh for a cosy reception at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, where Yousuf Karsh’s studio was located.

“Continuum is a project based on connecting many moments in time. It was conceived as a way to celebrate a new wave of emerging Ottawa artists during Canada’s sesquicentennial year. Recipients of the City of Ottawa’s prestigious Karsh Award were invited to choose a local Ottawa artist working with photography as a medium, a relative newcomer to stand in the spotlight.

“The Karsh photographers, innovators stylistically, gracious in comportment and masters of film-based photography, would no doubt be astonished and delighted by the myriad of camera-based practices in this exhibition, and their roles as progenitors of a chain of connection radiating outward. These common threads of welcome entwine here.” – From the catalogue essay by Melissa Rombout.

Continuum runs from September 14 to October 22, 2017 at Karsh-Masson Gallery, City Hall, 110 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, ON. Vernissage: Thursday, September 14, 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Tour with the curator: Sunday, September 24, 2 pm.

The New Generation:

“To the depth of a plow” is an elegy for my father, a farmer on the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation (Saskatchewan), Treaty Six Territory. These photographs were taken during the farm auction marking the end of his career, linking his personal narrative to the spirit and intent of the Treaty to share land with the newcomers only “to the depth of a plow”.

Well into the 20th century, systemic racism and government policies such as the pass and permit systems restricted the travelling and business practices of reserve farmers. Despite these and the challenges of securing financing for farm operations, my father worked the land to make a living at a time when opportunities for First Nations farmers were severely limited.”

“My goal is to push the limits of photography through digital manipulation, image appropriation, scanning and the use of photograms. Abandoning the camera allows me to explore a hybrid photographic language.

Flesh and Stones is a triptych of collages composed of hundreds of digitized and manipulated objects (primarily meat and jewellery) through which the symbolism seems to find an echo in feminine artifice. Moving from the physical world to the virtual, these objects are transformed into unlikely and threatening bodies that exist on the line between the attractive and the repulsive.

“Taking inspiration from representations of femininity in religious iconography and on Instagram, I see these images as allegorical portraits of the contemporary body.”

“I am drawn to locations associated with the monumental events of the mid 20th century, such as Hitler’s Berlin, Stalin’s Moscow and Churchill’s London.

H-Hour, Normandy 1944 is a work in four parts: Juno Beach, Atlantic Wall, Official Telegrams and War Graves. My objective was to stand on the landing beaches at first light on June 6th, D-Day. I was acutely aware of the longing and loss all around me, as I photographed the empty silence.

I hope that these images of memory and commemoration will inspire viewers to look, listen, reflect, enquire and imagine.”

“I am entranced by images of the Virgin Mary, one of the most prevalent figures in Western Art. She may be depicted serenely framed by her transcendental golden halo; at other times, she expresses entirely human emotions like fear, grief, or ecstasy. She is one of us, she is all of us.

As an atheist, I cannot see myself partaking in religious rituals; however, I am fascinated by these rituals. In The Madonnas series, Mary is human yet mystic, real yet strange, contemporary yet age-old. I breathe life into her, distributing her identity amongst friends, family and acquaintances. I seek her; she seeks me.”

“These works are from the series Normal Wear and Tear. In the literature guiding pet owners through the process of putting down an ailing animal, there is a list of questions to consider.

Its physical state must be observed: Is the animal tearing at itself? Is it missing hair? Does it hide itself away out of reach?

I read the last questions over and over:
Does it still like to play? Does it seem happy?

Sometimes I observe myself in a mirror, in photographs and ask:
Does it still like to play? Does it seem happy?”

“In Wanderings, I have created dreamlike images with imaginary creatures to act as my guides on a journey toward an unknown future.

In my travels, I am accompanied by a red thread or the colour red, a constant reminder of the inescapable factors that make us who we are—our past, our circumstance or our genes.

“Not all who wander are lost,” observes J.R.R. Tolkien: tethered as we may be to the past and all that makes us who we are, I still seek a world of boundless possibilities of the person I may become.”

“What the Body Remembers is a series of nude portraits of older women. Aging bodies are practically invisible in real life and in artistic representations; in particular, women “of a certain age” are not considered sensual, vibrant, passionate or heroic.

This raises important questions for me: Whose judgement creates the reluctance to accept that our own bodies will thicken, wrinkle and scar, and our posture will be less upright than when we were young? Why are our capabilities and our appetites considered to diminish with age? Why is it difficult to look at the evidence of time and life on the body?”

Learn more on the Karsh-Masson Gallery’s webpage.

“In the Civil Rights era of the 1960s and early 1970s, public opinion shifted towards the problem of the uninsured, especially the elderly. Since care for the elderly would someday affect everyone, supporters of health care reform were able to avoid the worst fears of “socialized medicine,” which was considered a dirty word for its association with communism. After Lyndon B. Johnson was elected president in 1964, the stage was set for the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Johnson’s plan was not without opposition, however. “Opponents, especially the AMA and insurance companies, opposed the Johnson administration’s proposal on the grounds that it was compulsory, it represented socialized medicine, it would reduce the quality of care, and it was ‘un-American.'” These views notwithstanding, the Medicare program was established by legislation signed into law on July 30, 1965, by President Lyndon B. Johnson.”

Read more about the history of health care reform in the United States in Wikipedia.

See more Lyndon B. Johnson by Yousuf Karsh.

On this day, September 18, in 1961, United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold died in a plane crashed. Hammarskjold was the youngest person to ever have held the Secretary-General post, and is one of one of only four people to be awarded a posthumous Nobel Prize.

United States President John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjold “the greatest statesman of our century.” He was photographed by Karsh during his tenure, in May, 1956.

Nikita Khrushchev died on this day, September 11, in 1971, aged 77.

Karsh photographed Khrushchev on April 21, 1963 in Moscow, USSR. Mr. and Mrs. Karsh travelled to Moscow for two months that year, and photographed many subjects, including ballerinas, cosmonauts, composers, authors, and even a puppeteer. Click here to see the full list of Moscow Sittings.

Mrs. Estrellita Karsh and Madame Nina Khrushchev got on famously and Mrs. Karsh still speaks admiringly of her today. Their son, Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, recalls meeting the Karshes in 1963, and as an author of several books about his father, we have worked with him to ensure this portrait above be included.

From Mr. Karsh’s recollections:

Nikita Sergevevich Khrushchev
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (1958-1964)
April 28, 1963

As I saw Khrushchev walking from his home toward where foreigners are received, I said to myself, “This figure would look more impressive if we had a very big fur coat.” I had made my desire known… and the answer was definitely no, it was April and there was no fur coat available. So after working, I switched the light off and I addressed myself to the Chairman of the USSR. I said, “Mr. Khrushchev, I would like the biggest fur coat in Russia possible to photograph you in.” And to my delight, he gave the go-ahead signal and within half an hour after that a big fur coat was produced. And the moment Mrs. Khrushchev saw this diminutive fellow carrying this coat on his arm she said, “Oh, that fur coat. That fur coat was reserved for Prime Minister Macmillan of England to go with my husband tobogganing so in case the Prime Minister falls, he will not hurt himself.”

On this day, September 12, 1953, Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy of Massachusetts married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. Bouvier herself had been a photographer, working for the Washington Times-Herald. 

Karsh also photographed Jacqueline and John Kennedy individually, as well as photographing Robert Kennedy, and Edward Kennedy.

Continuum: Karsh Award artists welcome a new generation is the exhibition curated by Melissa Rombout at the City of Ottawa Karsh-Masson Gallery, featuring seven emergent artists selected by seven past Karsh Award laureates.

Continuum runs from September 14 to October 22, 2017 and includes the following events:

Vernissage: Thursday, September 14, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Speeches begin at 6:00 p.m.
Gallery doors open at 6:15 p.m.

Tour with curator Melissa Rombout: Sunday, September 24, 2 p.m.
Presented in English at Karsh-Masson Gallery.

Artist talk with AM Dumouchel & Michael Schreier: Thursday, September 28, 7 p.m.
Bilingual presentation at Daïmôn.

Panel discussion with Rosalie Favell, Tony Fouhse, Leslie Hossack & Olivia Johnston, moderated by Peter Simpson: Friday, October 13, 7 p.m.
Presented in English at the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa.

Julia Martin & Chantal Gervais in conversation, moderated by Melissa Rombout: Wednesday, October 18, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Presented in English with bilingual Q&A at the University of Ottawa, Department of Visual Arts.

Artist talk with Meryl McMaster & Ruth Steinberg: Thursday, October 19, 7 p.m.
Presented in English at Karsh-Masson Gallery.
Karsh-Masson Gallery
Ottawa City Hall, 110 Laurier Avenue West

On this day, August 30, in 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American to be confirmed as a United States Supreme Court justice. He was nominated by Lyndon B. Johnson, and served until 1991.

In October 2017, 50 years since his confirmation, and 60 since his sitting with Karsh, director Reginald Hudlin’s biopic, Marshall, opens in cinemas.

See the Lyndon B. Johnson sittings.

Jerry Lewis has died at home in Las Vegas at the age of 91. Yousuf Karsh photographed Lewis in 1974 for Lewis’s Muscular Dystrophy annual Labor Day telethon.

Karsh was introduced to the Muscular Dystrophy Association by his wife, Estrellita, who, as a medical writer, had written about the disease. Karsh would go on to photograph the annual poster for the Muscular Dystrophy Association for more than 20 years. In 1983, when that year’s poster child, Christopher Rush, went to the White House and presented his photograph to the President, Reagan looked at the picture and said, “Oh, you know, Mr. Karsh has photographed me, too.”

See all Sittings related to Yousuf Karsh’s work with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Read the Jerry Lewis obituary in the New York Times.

This image, known as Rear Window, features Ford of Canada factory worker Gow Crapper. Karsh spent two weeks at Ford of Canada’s Windsor plant in 1951, and produced some of his best industrial photographs.

In her book, Portrait in Light and Shadow, Maria Tippets writes: “…Rear Window has become a classic. And this is not just because the photograph of Gow Crapper is tightly composed and beautifully lit. It is because the image predates the working-class counterculture heroes that actors like James Dean and Marlon Brando would come to exemplify a few years later.”

Karsh photographs from Ford of Canada will be on view in “The Sweat of their Face: Portraying American Workers” at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., opening November 3, 2017.

See more of the Ford of Canada photographs.

Helen Brooke Taussig (1898 – 1986) was an American cardiologist who founded the field of pediatric cardiology and is credited with a life-extending procedure for children born with “blue baby syndrome.” The procedure was put into practice with her colleagues at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Alfred Blalock and Dr. Vivien Thomas.

Dr. Helen Taussig is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, in Cambridge, Mass. This portrait is now being used to illustrate her biography on the cemetery’s website.

Karsh photographed Dr. Taussig in 1975, and Dr. Blalock in 1950.

Alfred Hitchcock was born on this day, August 13, in 1899. The son of a grocer began working in silent films in England in 1920. He left for Hollywood in 1939. Hitchcock was never awarded an Oscar for his film direction, but he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1980. He died later that year.

Karsh photographed Hitchcock for TV Guide Magazine.

On this day, August 9, in 1974, Richard Nixon resigned in the face of impending impeachment. The 37th President of the United States served from 1969 until 1974, and was photographed by Karsh as president-elect in 1969 (as well as Senator, in 1952, and Vice President, in 1957). After his resignation, he was issued a pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford, who Karsh also photographed, in 1977. Both were also photographed with their respective wives.

See the Nixon Sittings.

See the Ford Sittings.

Yousuf Karsh photographed Princess Grace in 1956, wearing this dress by Christian Dior. The image is included in the new exhibition “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” (“couturier du rêve”), open from July 5, 2017 to January 7, 2018, at the Musée des Art Décoratifs in Paris.

See more Princess Grace.

See Karsh’s portrait of Christian Dior.

The Château Laurier hotel in Ottawa celebrates its 105th birthday this year. Yousuf Karsh lived and worked at the Château Laurier for 19 years and his photographs hang in their Reading Lounge and the Karsh Suite.

A new book by author Kevin J. Holland about the hotel’s past titled Château Laurier – A Splendid Century is out now from Canadian National Railways Historical Association.

The book is rich with information, and full of fabulous photographs, not least of all subjects that Karsh photographed in his Château Laurier studio, including Nelson Mandela.

“Photographer Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) – known worldwide as “Karsh of Ottawa” and acclaimed for his portraits of famous and influential persons – moved his Ottawa portrait studio from the Hardy Arcade building at 130 Sparks Street to the Château Laurier on October 1, 1973. With the Hardy Arcade (an Art Deco structure completed in 1933) facing an uncertain future at the time, and demolition a possibility, Karsh approached Château Laurier General Manager Gordon Foster in 1972 regarding the possibility of relocating his studio to the hotel. An underused seven-room suite, relegated in recent years to serve as sample rooms for commercial sales agents and conventioneers, was made available. Suite 660, in the southeast corner of the east wing’s sixth floor, became Karsh’s professional base of operations for the next 19 years. The arrangement provided the Karsh Studio with a prestigious and highly accessible address, and gave Canadian National’s flagship hotel a prestigious tenant.

“Château Laurier was commissioned by Grand Trunk Railway president Charles Melville Hays, and was constructed for $2 million, between 1909 and 1912 in tandem with Ottawa’s downtown Union Station (now the Government Conference Centre) across the street.” From Château Laurier – A Splendid Century.

Read the CBC news article Looking back at 105 years of the Château Laurier.

See Karsh’s portraits of Nelson Mandela.

On this day, July 20, in 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon. The crew, Michael Collins, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong, were photographed two months later, in September, at NASA. Karsh also photographed the crew of Apollo 8.

See more about the Apollo 8 and 11 crew portraits.

As Canada celebrates 150 years, this photo was mentioned by a fan nominating it for “the most Canadian picture ever.” Lester Pearson is seen here at the House of Commons in 1957.

Pearson, standing in the foreground, was a Canadian scholar, statesman, soldier and diplomat, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis. He was the 14th Prime Minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968.

Roland Michener, who is in the chair, was Speaker of the House of Commons when the photograph was taken and later became the Governor General of Canada.

Lester Pearson was photographed on two separate occasions.

Roland Michener was photographed several times.

An inquiry came in from someone who had been searching for years for a copy of this photograph of Emil Schram with his three sons. They had seen the photograph in an article titled “Why I told my boys to invest first in life insurance!” published in the Montreal Gazette.

The Library and Archives in Canada located and digitized the image and the response from the client read: “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you again. It is just beautiful.”

Emil Schram died in 1987 at 93 years old. Among other roles, he was head of the New York Stock Exchange from 1941 – 1951. Read more about him in the New York Times obituary.

Emil Schram was originally photographed for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance.

See all the Sittings related to Northwestern Mutual.

“Chagall: Fantasies for the Stage” opens this month at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The exhibition highlights the principal role that music and dance played in Marc Chagall’s artistic practice, and the screen behind Chagall in this Karsh portrait includes some of the imagery found in his designs for stage work.

The exhibition at LACMA’s Resnick Pavilion opens July 31, 2017, and runs through January 7, 2018.

Marc Chagall was photographed by Yousuf Karsh in France, in 1965.

Canada Day (Fête du Canada) is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the Constitution Act, which united the three separate colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a single Dominion within the British Empire called Canada.

Although Canada existed prior to 1867, within both the French and British empires, Canada Day is frequently referred to as “Canada’s birthday”. Learn more: Wikipedia.

Every person photographed by Karsh is listed in the Sittings section of this website. Visitors are encouraged to search the Sittings for information, and to share tales about their friends and family who were photographed by Mr. Karsh.

This linocut caricature of Karsh was made by one of his sitters, the Canadian artist J. W. McLaren, and was submitted by a relative of McLaren’s. He also sent this article from a 1945 Ottawa Citizen column “Diary of Our Own Pepys” that reads: “…through the town and met with Y. Karsh who takes me to his chambers to shew me a fine engraving of himself as a portrait sitter sees him, being done with humour and good draughtsmanship, the work of Jack McLaren, the Toronto artist…”

Search the Sittings.

Helen Keller was born on this day, June 27, in 1880.

“On first looking into her blind but seeing eyes, I said to myself of this woman who had no sight or hearing since the age of three, ‘Her light comes from within.’ When we met, she placed her marvelously sensitive fingers on my face. This was, for me, an emotional experience; I sensed she already knew me. Her faithful companion, Polly Thompson, dialed Braille into her palm. Helen Keller’s kindness and understanding, her alert mind, awed me.

Read the rest of Karsh’s thoughts on Helen Keller.

Heroes of World War II: Men and Women Who Put Their Lives on the Line is a new publication from LIFE Books that features important figures from the period. Opening the “Political Heroes” section is a beaming Winston Churchill, the less well-known photograph of Britain’s Prime Minister in 1941, made immediately after what has come to be referred to as Karsh’s Roaring Lion portrait.

Watch Karsh recreate the “Roaring Lion” with Morley Safer.

Library and Archives Canada, in collaboration with Canada 150 Federal Secretariat of Canadian Heritage, will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Confederation with a series of 365 historical fact capsules. Included in their timeline will be this portrait of Bryan Adams, to illustrate the success of his 1991 hit single “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You.”

Bryan Adams is also a photographer. Take a look at his website to see his fashion photos.

From our personal archives comes this photograph of Yousuf Karsh receiving his Companion of the Order of Canada in 1990.

The Order of Canada is the nation’s greatest honor. There are three levels of distinction: Member, Officer, and Companion. Companion is the highest honor and it is limited to 165 living individuals. Having already been an Officer, Yousuf Karsh was elevated to Companion in 1990.

Clement Richard Attlee (1883 – 1967) was a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He founded Britain’s National Health Service.

John Bew’s biography Citizen Clem (River Run Press, 2016) has been awarded Britain’s most prestigious award for political writing, the Orwell Prize.

The Orwell Foundation writes:

The story of Attlee is also much more dramatic than he himself ever made out – and not without an element of heroism. Here was a man born in the governing class who devoted his life to the service of the poor; who was carried off the battlefield three times in the First World War; who stood shoulder to shoulder with Churchill at Britain’s darkest moment, and then triumphed over him at the general election of 1945. His government of 1945-51 included Ernest Bevin, Herbert Morrison and Nye Bevan and was the most radical in history, giving us the NHS, National Insurance, NATO and the atomic bomb. In many ways we still live in a world of Attlee’s creation. This book will pierce the reticence of Attlee and explore the intellectual foundations and core beliefs of one of the most important figures in twentieth-century British history, arguing that he remains under-appreciated, rather than simply underestimated. It will reveal a public servant and patriotic socialist, who never lost sight of the national interest and whose view of humanity and belief in solidarity was grafted onto the Union Jack.

Karsh photographed Clement Attlee both as an MP, and as PM. Learn more about the Sittings.

Thirty years ago on this day, June 12, 1987, US President Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev was photographed by Karsh in May, 1990, six months after Gorbachev did just that. Reagan served two terms ending in 1989; Gorbachev would retire from his post the following year.

Reagan was photographed on three occasions: as governor, president-elect, and president.
See more Ronald Reagan.

See more Mikhail Gorbachev.

Read about the Cold War (Wikipedia).

“In celebration of Canada 150, MomenTO highlights people, places and events from 1867 to 2017 that are significant to the history of Canada and Toronto. MomenTO engages community partners to present a diverse set of events, exhibits, and installations from May to December of 2017. At the same time, the MomenTO Pop-up Museum takes Canada’s 150th anniversary city-wide, featuring artifacts from the City’s historical collections that help tell remarkable stories from Toronto and Canada’s past.”

Explore MomenTO’s online timeline and you will find Yousuf Karsh’s portraits of Portia White and Glenn Gould. The print version of the timeline exhibit will travel around the City with a mobile museum from May to December 2017.

“1941. Contralto singer Portia White makes her formal debut in Toronto. One of the great vocalists of her generation, White broke the colour barrier faced by other Black Canadian concert singers and later achieved widespread international acclaim.”

See Portia White’s Sitting information.

On this day, June 2, in 1953, Princess Elizabeth was formally crowned Queen Elizabeth II. This informal family portrait was made earlier, in 1951 at Clarence House, and shows the then-Princess with her husband Prince Philip and their young children – Charles, born in 1948, and Anne, born in 1950.

Karsh had photographed an even younger Princess Elizabeth in 1943, and would go on to photograph her in 1966, 1984 and 1987. You can see some of those portraits here.

This LIFE magazine cover from August, 1961, featured a Karsh portrait of the 35th President of the United States. Karsh made this photograph of John F. Kennedy in 1960, when Kennedy was still a senator.

2017 marks the centenary of Kennedy’s birth.

See the 1963 John F. Kennedy memorial edition of LIFE.

See more John F. Kennedy by Yousuf Karsh.

Search the Sittings for all LIFE Magazine shoots.

Cover: Courtesy LIFE/The Picture Collection, Inc.

John F. Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917. The 35th President of the United States, 1961-1963, was the youngest man elected to the office. The JFK Library is commemorating his centennial during the month of May, with several events around the US. Read more on the JFK Centennial Events website.

Kennedy was photographed with Jacqueline in 1957 at Hammersmith Farm in Newport, Rhode Island, the home of her mother, Mrs. Hugh Auchincloss; and again in 1960, in his Senate office during his run for the Presidency.

Learn more about the Kennedy Sittings.

Our friends at the Canadian War Museum have this lovely photograph of Wing Officer Willa Walker in their collection, and it is currently on display as part of the traveling exhibition “World War Women /Grandes Guerres. Grandes Femmes.”

Wilhelmina Walker was the Commander of the Women’s Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. When her husband was incarcerated in a German Prisoner of War camp, Walker sent him escape maps hidden in the soles of shoes that were part of Red Cross packages. She joined the Canadian Air Force (Women’s Division) in 1941, finished first in her officer training class, and quickly became senior staff officer for the Air Force’s 17,000 servicewomen.

Next stop for the exhibition is the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, Ontario (opening July, 2017)

Yousuf Karsh photographed Wing Officer Walker in 1942.

Read more about Willa Walker in the Globe and Mail.

“In celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday, the Ottawa Citizen is rolling out one fact each day for 150 days until July 1, highlighting the odd, the fascinating and the important bits of Ottawa history you might not know about.”

This article, “The Capital Builders: How ‘Karsh of Ottawa’ captured the world’s most famous people in photos” by Citizen reporter Blair Crawford includes a video of the current Speaker of the House of Commons, Geoff Regan, enthusiastically retelling the story of the making of Karsh’s Churchill portrait.

“Today, Churchill still glowers from the wall of the Speaker’s chamber. When then-British prime minister Tony Blair visited Ottawa in 2001 to address Parliament, he thought the Churchill photo had been put up in his honour.

“Blair was astonished to learn that it wasn’t taken in Britain, that it was taken in Canada, right here in this very room,” Regan said. “He changed his speech so he could make mention of it.”

Read the rest of the article.

See more Winston Churchill by Yousuf Karsh.

The Estate is pleased to partner with the Eisenhower Memorial Commission in their ongoing work to memorialize the 34th US President on the National Mall. This is the header for their weekly newsletter.

Karsh photographed Eisenhower four times, both when he was a general and as President. Learn more here.

One of three portraits of Georgia O’Keeffe on loan for “Living Modern”

“Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern” takes a new look at how the renowned modernist artist proclaimed her progressive, independent lifestyle through a self-crafted public persona—including her clothing and the way she posed for the camera. The exhibition expands our understanding of O’Keeffe by focusing on her wardrobe, shown for the first time alongside key paintings and photographs. It confirms and explores her determination to be in charge of how the world understood her identity and artistic values.

In addition to selected paintings and items of clothing, the exhibition presents photographs of O’Keeffe and her homes by Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, Annie Leibovitz, Philippe Halsman, Yousuf Karsh, Cecil Beaton, Andy Warhol, Bruce Weber, Todd Webb, and others. It also includes works that entered the Brooklyn collection following O’Keeffe’s first-ever museum exhibition—held at the Brooklyn Museum in 1927.

This exhibition will travel.

Brooklyn Museum: March 3, 2017 – July 23, 2017
Reynolda House Museum of American Art: August 25, 2017 – November 19, 2017
Peabody Essex Museum: December 16, 2017 – April 7, 2018

See more Georgia O’Keeffe by Yousuf Karsh

“Herman Leonard began his career as an apprentice to famed portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh. Building on the lessons learned as a darkroom assistant and those gleaned from accompanying Karsh to portrait sessions with famous sitters such as Albert Einstein and Martha Graham, Leonard launched his first studio in New York City’s Greenwich Village in 1948.”

In the Groove: Jazz Portraits by Herman Leonard, which features Leonard’s iconic images of jazz legends such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk and Sarah Vaughan, closed at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., in February 2017, but will be touring through 2019. See more on NPG’s website.

This portrait of Herman Leonard was made by Karsh in 1947.

“Camera Press at 70: A Lifetime in Pictures” features seven decades of iconic images from the archives of the UK’s leading independent photographic agency. Founded in 1947, Camera Press celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.

Drawing on an unparalleled collection of photographs by some of the most iconic names in the industry, this unique exhibition offers a fascinating insight into photography from the 1940s to the present day.

Yousuf Karsh joined Camera Press on a handshake with its founder, Tom Blau. The Blau family remains in charge of the agency to this day.

“Camera Press at 70: A Lifetime in Pictures” is on view at Art Bermondsey Project Space, 183-185 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3UW, from May 17 to June 10, 2017.

Exhibition curated by Emma Blau.

See more Andy Warhol by Yousuf Karsh.

 

The Washington Post Style section, Friday, May 5th, 2017, ran a cover story about Dr. Andrew Farah’s book Hemingway’s Brain (University of South Carolina Press). Dr. Farah’s book (which also includes this portrait of Hemingway by Karsh, from 1957), suggests Hemingway suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. “The psychiatrist from High Point University in North Carolina writes of nine serious blows to Hemingway’s head — from explosions to a plane crash — that were a prelude to his decline into abusive rages, and elaborate delusions and the final violence of his suicide in 1961.”

Read more on the Washington Post.

See more Ernest Hemingway by Yousuf Karsh.

The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is the second highest honor for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada.

They Desire a Better Country: The Order of Canada in 50 Stories (Figure 1 Publishing) includes portraits by Karsh, and, since he himself was a recipient of both the Companion of the Order of Canada (1990) and Officer of the Order of Canada (1967), Karsh has his own section in the book.

From the Publisher: “They write the soundtrack to our lives and spark our imagination with their words. They unite our communities through their service and push humanity forward in their unwavering quest for innovation. They are the Companions, Officers and Members of the Order of Canada, one of our country’s highest honours; and collectively they desire a better country.

“To celebrate the Order of Canada’s 50th anniversary in 2017, this exceptional book, featuring stunning photography, will showcase some of the remarkable individuals who have garnered this prestigious honour.”

Karsh portraits in the book include Kenojuak Ashevak, Lawren Harris, and Dr. Wilder Penfield.

Read more about the book.