Karsh Signature

Yousuf Karsh, master photographer of the 20th century

Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev, 1990

On this day, October 15, in 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his leading role in the peace process which today characterizes important parts of the international community.”

In 1985 Gorbachev was elected the new leader of the Soviet Union. He sought to reform communism, and introduced the concepts “glasnost” (openness) and “perestroika” (change). Read more on the Nobel Prize website.

By 1990, two years before closing his studio, Karsh was beginning to slow down a little, photographing only about 100 people that year. See all the Sittings listed for 1990.

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