Yousuf Karsh, master photographer of the 20th century
Joan E. Howard is the director of Petite Plaisance, the former home of Marguerite Yourcenar and Grace Frick. Available now in hardcover and digital download from University of Missouri Press is Howard’s latest book, “We Met in Paris” Grace Frick and Her Life with Marguerite Yourcenar.
From June 8 to September 12, 2018, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents the work of the Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966) – the first major museum exhibition in the United States in more than 15 years dedicated to the Swiss-born artist.
On this day, June 6, in 1968, 42 year-old presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot dead in Los Angeles. He had just won the California presidential primaries in the 1968 election.
“Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms” opened at the New-York Historical Society this week and is the first internationally touring exhibition devoted to Rockwell’s iconic depictions of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms. This 1956 portrait by Karsh hangs at the very start of the exhibition.
On this day, May 25, in 1977, the film Star Wars was released in American movie theaters.
Neil Leifer shared his story with a mesmerized audience at the eleventh Karsh Lecture in Photography.
We recently learned of the passing of Dean William Schwartz, of Boston University School of Law. Dean Schwartz served as professor of law at the school for more than 30 years.
Douglas Cardinal is a Canadian architect based in Ottawa, Canada. He is still practicing, and his firm was recently in touch about using a portrait.
American author, journalist, and “unabashed contrarian” Tom Wolfe has died, aged 88.
On this day, May 12, in 1937, George VI was crowned King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth. In 1939, King George became the first British monarch to visit America and Canada.
On this day, May 10, in 1994, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was sworn in as the first black president of South Africa.
2018 marked the 21st anniversary of the Karsh photography prize for students of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Yugoslav communist revolutionary and political leader, Josip Broz, died on this day, May 4, in 1980.
On this day, April 26, in 1954, Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine began field trials.
“Tennessee Williams – Playwright & Painter” is an exhibition featuring nine of Tennessee William’s paintings dating from the 1970s. Hanging in the gallery is an enlargement of this iconic photograph of Williams, made by Karsh in 1956.
93 year old President James Carter was unable to attend the funeral of First Lady Barbara Bush last week, because he and his wife, Rosalynn, were traveling.
2018 marks the centenary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist.
Canada Post’s latest stamp features a portrait of then-Princess Elizabeth months before her accession to the throne.
Sad news from The Palace that the Queen’s last remaining corgi, Willow, has passed on.
On this day, April 18, in 1956, American actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco.
“The animated movie star welcomed me to her New York apartment in blue jeans, with her hair in curlers!”
Our friend and colleague Julia Van Haaften, founding curator of the New York Public Library’s photography collection, has released her in-depth biography Berenice Abbott: A Life in Photography.
Having debuted at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2017, director Stanley Tucci’s biopic of Alberto Giacometti, “Final Portrait,” is now on wide release.
Each year at this time, the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. commemorates the 1912 gift to the city of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo.
On Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, Marian Anderson performed a free open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. She sang before a crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions.
The National Geographic television channel will release a second season of its biographical “Genius” series on April 24th, 2018. Pablo Picasso is played by Antonio Banderas.
Martin Luther King was assassinated on this day, April 4, in 1968. President Lyndon B. Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning for the civil rights leader.
Joan Baez announced that she is releasing her final studio album, “Whistle Down the Wind”, and hitting the road for the last time, on an eight-month tour.
For the second year at the AIPAD Photography Show there will be a program of photographer documentaries, shorts and features, curated by award-winning filmmaker Mary Engel.
The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. launched their “Yousuf Karsh: American Portraits” exhibition in 2014 in celebration of a major gift to its collection of around 100 Karsh photographs. The exhibition is now traveling the United States.
Stephen Sondheim was born on this day, March 22, in 1930.
John Updike was born on this day, March 18, in 1932. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author published around 60 books.
The Eisenhower Memorial Commission is celebrating Women’s History Month with women who were pioneers in American diplomacy during the Eisenhower administration.
As part of a five-year collaboration with Library and Archives Canada, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary will host a series of exhibitions drawn from the national portrait collection.
On this day, March 14, in 1879, Albert Einstein was born. Karsh found Einstein “a simple, kindly, almost childlike man, too great for any of the postures of eminence.”
“Mr. Givenchy came to the attention of the young Ms. Hepburn, a rising star who was so charmed by his youthful designs that she insisted that he make her clothes for nearly all of her movies, and help mold her sylphlike image in the process.”
On International Women’s Day we are honoring Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig, ground-breaking American cardiologist.
On this day, March 8, in 1971, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier engaged in the “Fight of the Century” at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum has digitized a series of contact sheets showing Karsh’s visit to the White House to photograph the President in January, 1982.
Billy Graham was a spiritual adviser to American presidents and provided spiritual counsel for every president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama.
The United Kingdom is experiencing a chicken-related “fiasco” as Kentucky Fried Chicken’s supplier fails to make deliveries to KFC restaurants across the country.