K

YOUSUF KARSH

Canadian

Yousuf Karsh rose to international renown in 1941 as
the photographer of the defiant World War II British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Already famous as
a studio portraitist in Canada where he had lived since
leaving his native Armenia, he quickly became the
portrait photographer of choice for political leaders,
celebrities, and artists. By the end of his long career,
Karsh had achieved a rare stature: His portraits had
become the images by which many public figures are
best remembered—Churchill’s pugilistic stare; writer
Ernest Hemmingway in a rugged knit sweater; painter
Georgia O’Keeffe in raking light beneath a rack of
antlers. His pursuit of the inspirational in his sitters
reflects the tradition of public portraiture that conveys
authority and eminence, a style not associated with the
fine-arts aspirations of many twentieth century photo-
graphers. This traditional style, however, supported
Karsh’s humanist belief that the good in mankind can
be captured in a photograph. In his portraits, he
reflected his conviction that,

There is a brief moment when all that there is in a man’s

mind and soul and spirit may be reflected through his

eyes, his hands, his attitude. This is the moment to

record. This is the elusive ‘moment of truth.’

(Karsh 1963, 95)

Yousuf Karsh was born in Mardin, Armenia, in

1908 and with his family fled Turkish persecution to

Syria in 1922. The teenaged Karsh continued on

alone to Canada in 1924, sponsored by his uncle

George Nakash, a studio portrait photographer in

Sherbrooke, Quebec. After barely six months of

high school he began working full-time with his

uncle, providing income which allowed him to

help support his family in Syria. In his uncle’s stu-

dio he learned the language and repartee between

photographer and client, and found this human

dimension to photography deeply appealing.

In 1928, Karsh’s uncle sent the young man to Bos-

ton to apprentice with master society portrait photo-

grapher John H. Garo. There, he was exposed to

Garo’s prominent circle of visitors and learned the

importance of light, shadow, and form. He stayed on

in Boston after completing the apprenticeship, then

returningtoCanada,andrelocatingtothecapital

Ottawa in 1932 to be at the crossroads of visiting dig-

nitaries.WhileinBoston,Karshhadstudiedtherepro-

ductions of great classical portraitist painters at the

Boston Public Library and had been immersed in late

pictorialism as he explored the realm of celebrity por-

trait photography. The soft focus and atmospheric

effects inTurban, 1936, displays the romantic idealism

presentinhisearlyphotographs.Karshbeganmastery