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.

See the screen in color.

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.

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.

Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989) was a Russian and American pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, he was known for his virtuoso technique, timbre, and, according to his biographer, the public excitement engendered by his playing. Horowitz was photographed by Karsh in 1946 for “J. Walter Thompson RCA”: in the 1940s, the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency handled corporate advertising for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). In 1945 and ’46 Karsh made portraits of about a dozen luminaries for this project, including Marian Anderson, Yehudi Menuhin, and Wanda Landowska.

This portrait of Vladimir Horowitz has been freshly added to the website.

Linus Pauling, born February 28, 1901, (d.1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific topics. New Scientist called him one of the 20 greatest scientists of all time.

Pauling was one of the founders of the fields 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 Prize, 1962.

Henry Segerstrom was an esteemed American philanthropist, entrepreneur, cultural leader, and patron of the arts. Managing Partner of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, he was the founding chairman of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, now known as the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. This portrait can be seen in a permanent installation at the Center.

Segerstrom died on this day, February 20, in 2015 (b. 1923).

See a second portrait of Henry Segerstrom.

Helen Gurley Brown was an American author, publisher, and businesswoman, and was the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years from 1965 to 1997. In 1962 she published her book Sex and the Single Girl a non-fiction book written as an advice book that encouraged women to become financially independent and experience sexual relationships before or without marriage. Gurley Brown was one of many photographed for Karsh’s “American Legends” series and book. She was born on this day, February 18, in 1922 (d. 2012).

Charles “Chuck” Jones (1912-2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons. He wrote, produced, and/or directed many classic animated cartoon shorts starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, and Porky Pig, among others. Read more (Wikipedia). This portrait is newly added to the website.

The great Leonard Bernstein was photographed by Karsh on this day, February 10, in 1985. Bernstein (1918-1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian and winner of seven Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and 16 Grammys.

Ronald Reagan was born on this day, February 6, in 1911. After a career in radio and film, Reagan served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989.

Reagan was also photographed by Karsh in 1969 as Governor of the State of California, and in 1980 as President-Elect.

See contact sheets showing Karsh’s visit to the White House to photograph the President in January, 1982.

Norman Mailer was born on this day, January 31, in 1923. Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film-maker, actor, and political activist.

“I hope you can spend the evening,” was Norman Mailer’s greeting. “I’m planning to cook dinner for you.” That was our gracious introduction to the enfant terrible of American letters, the man whose self-advertised penchant for violent excess had caused more than one qualm as we planned this visit…

Our visit, far from stormy, proved a warm, intimate family occasion. I hope that my portrait has caught both the restlessness and the gentle concern of this creative American, innovative in his art yet so protective when we left that he drove miles ahead of us in his car to make sure we were on the right road.

Excerpt from Karsh Portraits.

Mailer was married six times and had nine children. He fathered eight children by his various wives and informally adopted his sixth wife’s son from another marriage. Apologies for not knowing which of his offspring is featured in this portrait.

Harold “Hal” Prince was an American theatre director and producer known for his work in musical theatre. Prince became associated throughout his career with many of the most noteworthy musicals in Broadway history, including West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, and Phantom of the Opera. Over the span of his career, he garnered 21 Tony Awards, including eight for directing, eight for producing the year’s Best Musical, two as Best Producer of a Musical, and three special awards.

Harold Prince was born on this day, January 30, in 1928 (d. 2019).

Newly added to the website we have this portrait of American playwright and screenwriter Robert E. Sherman.

He is the author of Waterloo Bridge, Idiot’s Delight, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, There Shall Be No Night, and The Best Years of Our Lives. He was a screenwriter on the adapted films Rebecca and The Bishop’s Wife. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1936, 1939, 1941), an Academy Award for Best Screenplay (1947) and a Pulitzer Prize for Biography (1948).

His Wikipedia entry has an unusual section:

Comments regarding Sherwood’s height
Sherwood stood 6 feet 8 inches tall. Dorothy Parker, who was 5 feet 4 inches, once commented that when she, Sherwood, and humorist Robert Benchley (6 feet) walked down the street together, they resembled “a walking pipe organ.” When asked at a party how long he had known Sherwood, Benchley stood on a chair, raised his hand to the ceiling, and said “I knew Bob Sherwood back when he was only this tall.”

 

Paul Nitze was an American businessman and government official who, in the 1960s, served as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Secretary of the Navy, and Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department. Nitze was born on this day, January 16, in 1907 (d. 2004).

Joan Baez was born on this day, January 9, in 1941. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more than 30 albums. She was photographed by Karsh in 1970, for Look magazine’s “Under 30” series, and again in 1979 for CBS records.

See more portraits of Joan Baez.

National Science Fiction Day is informally celebrated on January 2nd to honor the birthday of Isaac Asimov. Other sci-fi writers photographed by Karsh include Margaret Atwood, H. G. Wells, and Kurt Vonnegut.

Carter served as 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2002 for his efforts for peace and human rights.

We are thrilled to have this Karsh portrait from 1981 on the cover of TIME‘s January 2025 issue.

Yousuf Karsh was born on this day, December 23, in 1908. During his career he held 15,312 sittings, produced over 370,000 negatives, and left an indelible artistic and historic record of the men and women who shaped the twentieth century. Karsh kept a card file for every sitting, beginning in 1933 and running through to 1993, and the records have been transcribed and are searchable here on this website.

Get a glimpse behind the scenes of his six prolific decades in our Life in Images gallery.

Colonel Harland Sanders was an American businessman and founder of fast food chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken. Karsh photographed him on assignment for KFC in 1972 and ’73. Sanders was born on this day, December 16, in 1980 (b. 1890).

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 died on this day, December 9, in 1971 (b. 1903).

He is the first African American and first person of African descent to be awarded a Nobel Prize. He 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 and “[f]or nearly a decade, he was the most celebrated African American of his time both [in the US] and abroad.” See our other Bunche portraits.

Patricia Neal (1926-2010) was an American actress of stage and screen. A major star of the 1950s and 1960s, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and two British Academy Film Awards, and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards. Neal was photographed on this day, December 4, in 1985, for Ogilvy & Mather.

The “Dean of American Composers” Aaron Copland died on this day, December 2, in 1990 (b. 1900). Copland named Igor Stravinsky as his “hero” and his favorite 20th-century composer. Interestingly, Stravinsky was photographed by Karsh on March 20, 1956 whereas Copland was photographed earlier, on February 22, 1956.

Jack Bush was a Canadian abstract painter. Bush (1909-1977) was inspired by Henri Matisse and American abstract expressionist painters such as Helen Frankenthaler. A member of Painters Eleven, his paintings are associated with the Color Field movement and Post-painterly Abstraction. Bush was photographed on this day, November 25, in 1974, and his portrait was included in the recently-published Jack Bush Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné – he stands in front of his 1974 painting “Opus 1/2”.

Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, inventor, teacher, and environmental activist Margaret Atwood was born on this day, November 18, in 1939. Since 1961, she has published 17 books of poetry, 16 novels, 10 books of non-fiction, eight collections of short fiction, eight children’s books, and one graphic novel, as well as a number of small press editions in poetry and fiction.

Atwood was photographed by Karsh in 1977 for his book Karsh Canadians (1978, University of Toronto Press) but she was also photographed in 1985 as “One of group of writers photographed together for Apple Canada, Inc. Including Charles Templeton, Ben Wicks, Harold Towne, Veronica Tennant, Margaret Atwood.”

Jawaharlal Nehru was born on this day, November 14, in 1889. Nehru was an Indian independence activist, and subsequently, the first Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics before and after independence. He served India as Prime Minister from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his death in 1964. Nehru was photographed twice by Karsh, in 1949 and in 1956.