Yousef Karsh

1908-2002
Armenian born in Mardin. At the age of 14, he immigrated to Canada and learned photography with his uncle. His
first big break was to photograph Winston Churchill during his visit to Canada.
‘Roaring Lion’
 Carrie Fisher Christian Dior Audrey Hepburn Lord Mountbatten Brigitte Bardot Alfred Hitchcock

H. G. Wells Elizabeth Taylor Walt Disney Ingrid Berman Man Ray Martin Luther King

He was THE photographer of 20th century. Everyone who was famous got photograph by him.
PORTRAITS
Karsh was well-known for his use of chiaroscuro lighting, which highlights the contrast between light and
shadow. This method gave his portraits a dramatic, almost theatrical feel.
“Within every man and woman a secret is hidden, and as a photographer it is
my task to reveal it if I can. The revelation, if it comes at all, will come in a small
fraction of a second with an unconscious gesture, a gleam of the eye, a brief
lifting of the mask that all humans wear to conceal their innermost selves from
the world.”
–Yousuf Karsh
He tries to reflect the person he portrays rather than just the faces by incorporating the relationship
between people and space into his photographs.
Robert Oppenheimer Le Corbusier, 1954
Portraits d'Elizabeth II d'Angleterre ,1966 Margaret Thatcher,1976
HANDS
Mohammad Ali
Martha Graham Albert Einstein, 1948
Joan Miró Marino marini
, 1965 , ca. 1970
HAPPILY EVER AFTER
The Windsors - 35 years later, 1972 Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, 1951
Jacqueline & John Kennedy,1961 Prince Rainier de Monaco et Grace Kelly, 1956
Elixir

“In the 1930s, I enjoyed experimenting with optics

and Surrealism.”

This nude study of Karsh’s first wife, Solange,

consisted of four negatives carefully sandwiched
together. This was long before the invention of
Photoshop or digital manipulation and it required
a great deal of skill, finesse, and technique in
every step of the process - the exposures, the
developing of the negatives, and the making of
the final print.

https://karsh.org/photographs/elixir/
 Dear Yousef Karsh,
You have done a splendid job over the years you
have spent on this earth. Your photographs portray more
than just flesh and blood, but humans as being themselves.
Your search for souls among the great people amazingly
captured and turned into something bigger than the
photograph itself. The way you try to understand people who
sit in front of you is a precious gift to us.
I would love to be one of the people you have
photographed. What would you see in me, and how would
you portray me?
Thank you for your delicate way of approaching
people and your photography.
Sincerely
Ceyda.