Karsh Signature

Yousuf Karsh, master photographer of the 20th century

Yousuf Karsh and Edward Steichen

Vanity Fair
Yousuf Karsh and Edward Steichen, 1965 © Wayne Miller

This tear sheet, a clipping from Vanity Fair which came in from the family of photographer Wayne Miller, speaks for itself.

In Karsh: Beyond the Camera David Travis wrote that Karsh was commissioned to photograph Steichen during the Second World War, when Steichen was a naval commander. “The prospect of photographing such a giant was awesome. I was so tense and nervous that the first unsatisfactory result made me timorously request a second sitting, to which a patient and understanding Steichen acquiesced.

Karsh believed that no photographer was more talented, creative or influential than Edward Steichen. “It was like necessary food to turn his pages in Vanity Fair for inspiration.” Karsh first met Steichen in 1936 during a visit to New York City…. Karsh’s first portrait of Steichen was taken years later in Washington, D.C. while Steichen was serving his country again in another world war. They became closer in the mid-1960s. By this time, Steichen had suffered two strokes and married his third wife, a woman fifty-five years his junior. He had retired to Umpawaug, his Connecticut house and acreage where the Karshs were invited as house guests.”

Edward Steichen by Yousuf Karsh.

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