Names: | | Dates: | 1908, 23 December - 2002, 13 July | Born: | Turkey, Turkish Armenia, Mardin | Active: | Canada | Probably the most famous portrait photographer in the world, Karsh presents living sculptures to the cameras, monumental presences achieved by dramatic use of light and total concentration on the sitter.
[Contributed by Pam Roberts]Preparing biographies Biography provided by Focal Press Born in Armenia, he escaped the Turkish persecution, emigrating to Canada in 1924. Opened a portrait studio in Ottawa in 1932 where he established a reputation for photographing the powerful and famous of his era. His view-camera portraits were known for their clarity and dramatic lighting, emphasizing highlights, shadows, and rich textures. His 1941 LIFE cover of the imposing, wartime, bulldog-faced Winston Churchill infused the subject’s personality with his public image to reveal what Karsh said was the sitter’s "inner power." (Author: Robert Hirsch - Independent scholar and writer) Michael Peres (Editor-in-Chief), 2007, Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, 4th edition, (Focal Press) [ISBN-10: 0240807405, ISBN-13: 978-0240807409] (Used with permission)
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Family history If you are related to this photographer and interested in tracking down your extended family we can place a note here for you to help. It is free and you would be amazed who gets in touch. alan@luminous-lint.com |
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Yousuf Karsh https://www.geh.org ...
| The Good, The Great & The Gifted Camera Portraits by Yousuf Karsh and Althol Shmith https://www.nga.gov.au ... Yousuf Karsh (1908–2002) of Ottawa and Athol Shmith (1914–1990) of Melbourne are 20th-century examples of portrait photographers.
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The following books are useful starting points to obtain brief biographies but they are not substitutes for the monographs on individual photographers. |
• Auer, Michele & Michel 1985 Encyclopedie Internationale Des Photographes de 1839 a Nos Jours / Photographers Encylopaedia International 1839 to the present (Hermance, Editions Camera Obscura) 2 volumes [A classic reference work for biographical information on photographers.] • Beaton, Cecil & Buckland, Gail 1975 The Magic Eye: The Genius of Photography from 1839 to the Present Day (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown & Company) p.178 [Useful short biographies with personal asides and one or more example images.] • Capa, Cornell (ed.) 1984 The International Center of Photography: Encyclopedia of Photography (New York, Crown Publishers, Inc. - A Pound Press Book) p.275-277 • Evans, Martin Marix (Executive ed.) 1995 Contemporary Photographers [Third Edition] (St. James Press - An International Thomson Publishing Company) [Expensive reference work but highly informative.] • Lenman, Robin (ed.) 2005 The Oxford Companion to the Photograph (Oxford: Oxford University Press) [Includes a short biography on Yousuf Karsh.] • Witkin, Lee D. and Barbara London 1979 The Photograph Collector’s Guide (London: Secker and Warburg) p.171-172 [Long out of print but an essential reference work - the good news is that a new edition is in preparation.]
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If there is an analysis of a single photograph or a useful self portrait I will highlight it here. |
• Gruber, Renate and L. Fritz Gruber 1982 The Imaginary Photo Museum (New York: Harmony Books) p.251 • Sobieszek, Robert A. and Deborah Irmas 1994 the camera i: Photographic Self-Portraits (Los Angeles: LACMA - Los Angeles County Museum of Art) p.221, Plate 79 [When the Audrey and Sydney Irmas collection was donated to LACMA - Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1992 the museum gained a remarkable collection of self portraits of notable photographers. If you need a portrait of Yousuf Karsh this is a useful starting point.]
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Photographic collections are a useful means of examining large numbers of photographs by a single photographer on-line.
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"Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness." | "I try to photograph people‘s spirits and thoughts. As to the soul—taking by the photographer, I don‘t feel I take away, but rather that the sitter and I give to each other. It becomes an act of mutual participation." | "I try to reveal the most innate trait of the personality of my subjects. I must go beyond appearances." | "If it‘s a likeness, alone, it‘s not a success. If, through my portraits, you can come to know the subjects more meaningfully, if it synthesizes your feelings toward someone whose work has imprinted itself on your mind—-if you see a photograph and say, ‘Yes, this is the person‘, with a little new insight--that is a beautiful experience." | "Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera." | "The trouble with photographing beautiful women is that you never get into the dark room until after they‘ve gone." | "There is a brief moment when all there is in a man‘s mind and soul and spirit is reflected through his eyes, his hands, his attitude. This is the moment to record." | "When one sees the residuum of greatness before one‘s camera, one must recognize it in a flash. 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‘." | "Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is my task to reveal it if I can." |
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