Karsh 100: A Biography in Images September 22, 2008

Contact: Kelly Gifford
617.369.3540
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 15, 2008

KARSH 100: A BIOGRAPHY IN IMAGES BRINGS INTO FOCUS
THE ICONIC PHOTOGRAPHY OF YOUSUF KARSH

Portraitist’s Centenary Celebrated in Exhibition at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
Featuring Famous Photographs of Winston Churchill, Audrey Hepburn, and Pablo Picasso

BOSTON, MA (July 15, 2008)—The legacy of Yousuf Karsh—the man behind the lens of some of the 20th century’s most famous photographic portraits—is brought to light as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), presents Karsh 100: A Biography in Images. The exhibition of more than 100 works celebrating the 100th anniversary of Karsh’s birth (1908–2002) showcases his iconic portraits of the era’s most illustrious faces alongside rarely seen earlier photographs and lesser-known work. Karsh 100 will be on view September 23, 2008, through January 19, 2009, in the Rabb Gallery at the MFA. This exhibit is generously supported by the Government of Canada through the Consulate General of Canada in Boston.

The exhibition features a visual biography of the photographer as seen in more than 100 of his works and mementos, the majority of which were given to the Museum of Fine Arts’ collection by Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh, including renowned portraits of Winston Churchill, Audrey Hepburn, Ernest Hemingway, and Pablo Picasso. In addition to Karsh’s well-known, introspective images of statesmen, scientists, artists, writers, musicians, and actors, the exhibition highlights the photographer’s early work, Canadian vignettes and landscapes taken on assignment for Maclean’s magazine of Canada, and those commissioned by leading Canadian companies, from the Karsh Collection at the Portrait Gallery of Canada. Also on display are photographs taken by Karsh for Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s book, This is Rome, and on the set in Africa for the 1963 movie “Zulu.” Archival material in the exhibition includes letters, diaries, and personal photographs, and a special feature is one of Karsh’s large-format (8 x 10”) studio cameras with lens, velvet cloth, and tripod lent by the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

“Yousuf Karsh had a special relationship with the MFA and Boston ever since his apprenticeship here in the late 1920s,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. “He thought of Boston as his spiritual home and the Museum as his ‘university’ where he studied light, composition and shadow. We are privileged now to be the major repository in the United States for his magnificent works, and delighted to share them with our visitors on the 100th anniversary of his birth.”

Karsh 100 will showcase many of the photographer’s most recognized images—foremost among them, his portrait of Winston Churchill taken during the British Prime Minister’s visit to Canada in December 1941. The oft-told story of Karsh being granted two minutes to capture the essence of the impatient statesman—from whose mouth he plucked an ever-present cigar—is almost as familiar as the photograph itself. The outcome of that brief encounter is the bold and defiant portrait of Churchill, which put a human face on the indomitable spirit of the British people during World War II. That image also propelled Karsh onto the international scene, opening doors to the renowned and powerful. Determined as he was to photograph men and women of consequence in the world—the “giants of the earth,” as he described them—Karsh, in turn, became the most sought-after portrait photographer of his time.

The exhibition will include 42 images (most in black and white) of the era’s celebrated personalities lining the perimeter of the gallery walls in the exhibition. Featured among them are: statesmen—Princess Elizabeth, Jackie Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, and Fidel Castro; scientists—Albert Einstein, Jacques Cousteau, Albert Schweitzer, and Edward Teller; artists—Pablo Picasso, I.M. Pei, Ansel Adams, and Georgia O’Keeffe; writers—George Bernard Shaw, Ernest Hemingway, Helen Keller with Polly Thompson, and W.H. Auden; musicians—Jean Sibelius, Jessye Norman, Pablo Casals, and Paul Robeson; and actors—Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Angela Lansbury, and Boris Karloff. A display of Karsh’s early photographs, featuring his experimentation with portraiture and theatrical lighting; bucolic scenes of Canadian life shot for Maclean’s; and images promoting Canadian industry, will be mounted at the center of the gallery to show the breadth of Karsh’s body of work.

Archival materials in Karsh 100 will provide a personal view of the man behind the velvet-draped studio camera, revealing insights into Karsh’s personality, his approach to his work, and the friendships he forged with his subjects. Featured are reminiscences written by the photographer about his sittings with Churchill and King George VI of England, as well as the transcript of his recorded conversation with Albert Einstein after a 1948 portrait session. An excerpt from Morley Safer’s 1977 “60 Minutes” interview with Yousuf Karsh also is included in the exhibition.
Karsh’s gentlemanly ways, meticulous preparation, and professional demeanor earned him the respect of his subjects. The German artist Josef Albers gave Karsh his painting Homage to the Square: Steel and Foliage (1964); sculptor Jacques Lipchitz created Head of Yousuf Karsh (1970) in tribute; and sculptor Emilio Greco gave to Estrellita Karsh, the photographer’s wife, the bust he did for her (title and date?). All three of these works are from Mrs. Karsh’s private collection and are included in the show, as are other special mementos, such as diaries with notations about appointments Karsh had in Washington, DC, and Hollywood, with the famous and powerful; and a self portrait of Karsh near a birthday photograph of Mrs. Karsh, showing the private side of the man who lived in a very public world.

“This exhibition is intended to show the range of Yousuf Karsh’s work by including not only his famous portraits, but also the early efforts that led to the definition of his style and the special assignment work that he undertook once he had achieved international success,” said Anne Havinga (Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Curator of Photographs at the MFA), who curated the exhibition. “Karsh’s name became synonymous with the highest level of photographic portraiture and being ‘karshed’ was an honor for his sitters.”

Karsh’s unique photographic style, with its formal, contemplative poses, dramatic lighting, and careful framing, was influenced by his early experiences in Canada and an important sojourn to Boston. Born (December 23, 1908) in Turkey but of Armenian descent, Karsh saw first hand the atrocities of the Armenian genocide. At 17, he traveled by himself from Syria (where his family had immigrated) to Canada to live with his uncle, a photographer, in Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia. At 20, he apprenticed for three years in Boston with master portrait photographer (and fellow Armenian) John H. Garo. Under his tutelage, Karsh learned the art of natural light photography and portraiture. At Garo’s urging, Karsh often visited the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to study the works of the great masters for inspiration. The photographer was determined “to portray, to interpret, to record the human spirit, human soul.”

In 1930, Karsh returned to Canada, and two years later, opened a studio in Ottawa, where he became known as “Karsh of Ottawa.” During this period, the photographer experimented with portraiture and studied the dramatic use of artificial light by observing the theatrical lighting at the Ottawa Little Theater, where he made a series of personal connections leading to the highest levels of Canadian government. In 1941, at Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s request, Karsh photographed Winston Churchill during the latter’s wartime visit to the Canadian Parliament. The portrait was later chosen as the cover for Life magazine, and became one of the most reproduced photographs in history, setting in motion a long and distinguished career. In 2000, the international millennium edition of Who’s Who named Karsh one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, and more than half of those on the list had their portraits taken by the master photographer himself. In honor of his centenary this year, Canada commissioned three commemorative stamps featuring the photographer’s 1952 self portrait and his famous photographs of Winston Churchill and Audrey Hepburn.

Karsh’s quest—“to stir the emotions of the viewer,” and “lay bare the soul” of his subjects— began in Boston in the 1920s. It ultimately gave him entrée to his generation’s most fascinating people, taking him around the world on a photographic odyssey that spanned more than 60 years. Karsh and his wife, Estrellita, left Canada in the mid 1990s and returned to Boston, his “spiritual home,” where he died on July 13, 2002, leaving behind a legacy as one of the 20th century’s most influential figures. In his final book, Karsh: A Biography in Images, the photographer summed up his career: “The endless fascination of these people for me lies in what I call their inward power. It is part of the elusive secret that hides in everyone, and it has been my life’s work to try to capture it on film.”

YOUSUF AND ESTRELLITA KARSH AND THE MFA
Yousuf Karsh has long been associated with the MFA. The young photographer studied works of art at the Museum during his apprenticeship in Boston with John Garo in the late 1920s. In 1968, the MFA was chosen as the first US museum venue for a Karsh exhibition, then in 1996, the Museum organized Karsh Portraits: The Searching Eye, a major retrospective of 120 photographs taken during Karsh’s career. A gift of 199 photographs was given to the Museum by Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh between 1996 and 1998. The collection of predominantly black and white portraits by the internationally renowned artist spans more than 60 years and includes the most famous faces of the 20th century, including Mother Teresa, Bill Clinton, and Humphrey Bogart. An exhibition, simply titled Karsh, featuring 75 of the artist’s iconic portraits, was sent to the MFA’s sister museum, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Nagoya, Japan) in 2000. The Karshs established the annual Karsh Lectureship in Photography in 1997, and the Karsh Prize for Photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1999. In 2005, Mrs. Karsh also endowed the Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Curator of Photographs, a post held by Anne Havinga, and in 2008, Mrs. Karsh established the Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Assistant Curator of Photographs position at the MFA.

In addition to their close association with the Museum, the Karshs also created opportunities to bring art and medicine together to benefit the community. In 1998, their gift of 20 portraits of medical and scientific luminaries, titled “Healers of Our Age,” was installed at Nesson Pike at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Karsh’s portraits of artists and authors also grace the Robert and Ronnie Bretholtz Center for Patients and Families at BWH. The most recent realization of the Karshs’ vision is the “Bridge of Hope” mural project, conceived by Mrs. Karsh and launched in 2005, which transformed the formerly drab corridor between BWH and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute into an inspirational passageway for patients, staff, and visitors.



EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION
Karsh 100: A Biography in Images, curated by Anne Havinga, will be on view at the MFA
September 23, 2008, through January 19, 2009. Consultant to the exhibition is Jerry Fielder, Curator and Director, Estate of Yousuf Karsh. A version of the exhibition will travel to the Getty Center in Los Angeles in 2009. The Boston Public Library also is mounting an exhibition of Karsh’s works this fall, Behind the Words: Literary Portraits by Yousuf Karsh, drawing from a collection of 57 Karsh portraits of literary figures donated to the Library by Mrs. Karsh. Other venues celebrating the 100th anniversary of Karsh’s birth include: National Portrait Gallery, London; National Museum of Photography, Film, and Television, Bradford, England; Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris; National Gallery, Australia; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Alabama; National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; Art Institute, Chicago; and the Rhode Island School of Design.

PUBLICATION
The publication, Karsh: A Biography in Images, written by Yousuf Karsh and published in 2003 by MFA Publications, is available for $40 at the MFA Bookstore and Shop or by visiting www.mfa.org.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Please contact Kelly Gifford at 617.369.3540 or [email protected] or Mary Keith at 617.369.3448 or [email protected].

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), is recognized for the quality and scope of its encyclopedic collection, which includes an estimated 450,000 objects. The Museum’s collection is made up of: Art of the Americas; Art of Europe; Contemporary Art; Art of Asia, Oceania, and Africa; Art of the Ancient World; Prints, Drawings, and Photographs; Textile and Fashion Arts; and Musical Instruments.

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