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.