Yousuf Karsh

Karsh in 1958

Yousuf Karsh (December 23, 1908 – July 13, 2002) was an Armenian-Canadian photographer known for his portraits of notable individuals. He has been described as one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th century.

Quotes

Portraits of Greatness (1959)

So he stands in my portrait in what has always seemed to me the image of England in those years, defiant and unconquerable.

• The silence seemed to me more instructive than words. A sense of power clung to him like a garment, and it required no utterance. The square-cut and deeply graven face, the huge body, and, above all, the sombre granitic look indicated a singleness of purpose, a dedication to some inward and unshakable decision.
  • On Konrad Adenauer. Page 14
• Among the tasks that life as a photographer had set me, a portrait of Albert Einstein had always seemed a 'must'—not only because this greatest refugee of our century has been accounted by all the world (except his homeland) as the outstanding scientist since Newton, but because his face, in all its rough grandeur, invited and challenged the camera.
  • Page 68
• He marched in scowling, and regarded my camera as he might regard the German enemy. His expression suited me perfectly, if I could capture it, but the cigar thrust between his teeth seemed somehow incompatible with such a solemn and formal occasion. Instinctively I removed the cigar. At this the Churchillian scowl deepened, the head was thrust forward belligerently, and the hand placed on the hip in an attitude of anger. So he stands in my portrait in what has always seemed to me the image of England in those years, defiant and unconquerable.
  • On Winston Churchill. Page 44

Quotes about Karsh

• Well, you can certainly make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed.
  • Winston Churchill to Karsh in Karsh, Yousuf (1959). Portraits of Greatness. p. 44.