Yousuf KarshLife & Work

Yousuf Karsh (1908–2002) is widely recognized as one of the leading portrait photographers of the twentieth century. Arriving in Canada alone in 1924 as a fifteen-year-old displaced refugee of the Armenian genocide, Karsh mastered the art of portraiture through apprenticeships in stylish studios of the Pictorialist age. With his camera, he sought to capture the essential nature of his subjects in what he called the “elusive moment of truth.” Over the course of six decades, “Karsh of Ottawa” created a unique visual chronicle of celebrated legends and so-called ordinary sitters, becoming a celebrity in his own right.

In Yousuf Karsh: Life & Work, author Melissa Rombout introduces Karsh to new audiences by exploring his artistic choices in the wider context of twentieth-century portraiture practice. His vast body of work—encompassing more than 15,000 portrait sittings and now preserved at Library and Archives Canada—spans decades of changing photographic technologies. Karsh made iconic portraits of leading political, scientific, industry, and cultural figures such as Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth II, Martin Luther King, Jean Paul Riopelle, Andy Warhol, Margaret Atwood, Robert Oppenheimer, and Nelson Mandela, who themselves became iconic and known to millions through lavishly-illustrated books, popular magazines, fine art exhibitions, stamps, and currency.