Archive contact:
Julie Grahame
jgrahame@karsh.org
http://karsh.org
Yousuf Karsh (b. December 23, 1908 – d. July 13, 2002) Born in Mardin, Armenia
Yousuf Karsh grew up under the horrors of the Armenian massacres. In 1924 he was
brought to Sherbrooke, Quebec, by his uncle George Nakash. Instead of studying
medicine, as he had originally thought he would, Karsh was introduced to
photography. Karsh said “While at first I did not realize it, everything
connected with the art of photography captivated my interest and energy…” By
1926 Karsh was apprenticed to John H. Garo of Boston, a fellow Armenian and one
of America’s top portrait photographers at the time, of whom Karsh said “Garo
taught me to see, and to remember what I saw.”
By 1931 Karsh had returned to Canada and set up his own studio in Ottawa. He
soon met the editor of Saturday Night magazine and his photographs were
reproduced for the first time. A close relationship with the members of the
Ottawa Little Theatre gave Karsh the opportunity to learn about lighting (Garo
worked exclusively by daylight) and Karsh became a master.
Karsh was soon to become friends with Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King who
arranged for him to make the famous photograph of Winston Churchill in 1941 –
now thought to be among the world’s most reproduced images. One might say that
the rest is history. In the International Who’s Who of 2000, which listed the
most notable people of the last century, Karsh was the only Canadian of the 100
famous people listed – 51 of whom Karsh had photographed. Mrs Estrellita Karsh
and the Karsh curator, Jerry Fielder, endow and exhibit Karsh prints worldwide
and licensing of the archive keeps the body of work in the public eye.
Images, video clips, publications, awards, and more can be found at
http://karsh.org.