BOSTON, Mass. (11/24/2008) -- Sunday is a day for art. Deciding to venture into the Museum of Fine Arts on a frigid afternoon in Boston seemed like a unique idea, one that only I could have conjured up. Yet, as the warmth of the heating system in the building sucked me into the foyer of the MFA, it was surprising to discover the volume of people within the walls of the museum.
Knowing my purpose for trekking through the cold that afternoon, I wasted no time heading straight through the West Wing of the museum, past the bookstore and the Galleria to the Rabb Gallery. It was then that I reached my destination: a world captured by Karsh.
Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh was one of the few humans that had the opportunity during his lifetime to play God. Karsh once said that it was “his goal to photograph the great in spirit, whether they be famous or humble.” And that’s exactly what he did.
Walking through the exhibit, it is easy to feel as if one is attending the Oscars, showcased on the walls are the most famous celebrities throughout the past century. Karsh seems to have photographed everyone who was ever anyone; his pieces range from portraits of Pablo Picasso to Audrey Hepburn.
Through the lens of his camera, Karsh shot negatives of history’s stars such a Jacques Cousteau and Eleanor Roosevelt. Yet, in the gallery, these celebrities hang side by side with a simple portrait of Karsh’s own wife, Estrellita. This is a form of realism that is unique to Karsh’s work. The humanity of the famous is something that is often forgotten, and for that reason, Karsh’s portraits resonated deeply with his audience.
Karsh did not take pictures by merely clicking the button of his Kodak camera. Karsh was an artist in all aspects of his profession. His professionalism was deeply rooted in his character. The National Portrait Gallery depicts Karsh as an internationally renowned photographer, but nonetheless, a gentleman. He put his subjects at ease while he photographed them—allowing him to produce the most accurate depictions possible.
The Museum of Fine Arts states, “Privileged individuals trusted Karsh to record their likeliness in a way that would protect their reputation.” Because of his way with people, Karsh photographed over 15,000 sittings throughout the course of his career. He always chose to present his sitters in the most formal manner, gaining him respect from his subjects that boosted his own reputation.
Walking through the gallery past portrait after portrait of celebrities, it is easy to see why Karsh’s work is so well loved. His images are sharp, so precisely focused that each print almost blinds the eye upon first glance. Every portrait is done black and white print, Karsh’s work revealing an aspect of the man’s character. Karsh did not emphasize the color of the subject’s skin, hair, or clothing. He looked at the inside of the individual and at his or her character.
The one painting that does pop out from amidst the sea of black and white is a portrait of the actress, Sophia Loren. Completed in 1981, it is a Chromogenic print, rich in color. The photo captures the delighted face of the actress, smiling from under a crimson wide-brimmed hat. Loren is depicted only in the bottom third of the portrait, leaving the other two thirds of the photo, black, empty space. The museum text alongside the portrait explains that the color in the print was necessary for the portrait’s replication in Life, Time, and Newsweek magazines, but it was not Karsh’s medium of choice.
The detailed beauty of all of Karsh’s portraits is found not only in the medium that he chose or in the outwardly aesthetic, but also in the inner spirit of each of his subjects. Karsh often focused on the face of his subject, dramatically lighting each visage with artificial light. This depicts Karsh’s fascination with the “inward power” of his sitters, as he later wrote in a memoir.
CBS News did a “60 Minutes” episode on Karsh in 1977 that traced his successful 60-year career as a photographer. The show’s host, Morley Safer, emphasized Karsh’s great love for the artists that he photographed.
Safer said that Karsh was enthralled with people’s faces and the stories that they told. “To Karsh, their greatness was the greatness if historical continuity,” said Safer.
Yousuf Karsh had his own history to tell; perhaps that is why he is so quick to capture the history of the subjects that he photographs.
Karsh arrived in Halifax, Canada in 1925, a 17-year old boy all on his own. He was an Armenian immigrant, escaping Turkish persecution and genocide to find a new life in North America.
Karsh writes in his own brief autobiography, “My first glimpse of the New World on a steely, cold sunny winter day was the Halifax wharf, covered in snow. I could not yet begin to imagine the infinite promise of this new land.”
The young immigrant grew up to be one of the most defined photographers of the 20th century, but he left behind a sad childhood, one that he never forgot. “My recollection of those days comprise a strange mixture of blood and beauty, of persecution and peace,” said Karsh. His past haunted him throughout his career.
It is that balance of blood and beauty that Karsh freezes within each of his portraits; for a second the past surfaces in the face of the portrait’s subject, regardless of who the subject is or what story he or she holds.
The first of his Karsh’s portraits depicts Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Taken in 1941 during a visit Churchill paid to Canada, the photo shows Churchill’s hostility on the occasion. According to the museum, Churchill had not been previously informed that he was required to sit for a portrait. He therefore, took out a fat cigar and began to smoke. After asking him politely to refrain from smoking, Karsh forcefully removed the cigar from Churchill’s mouth. The resulting portrait is one of defiance and the “indomitable spirit of the statesman and his besieged country.”
Hanging alongside Churchill, many fifty other black and white Gelatin silver prints hang with austerity. American President Dwight D. Eisenhower stares at the passerby with piercing eyes; Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro’s unwieldy beard fills the bottom half of his portrait and seems eccentric and wild next to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s regal pose in all white.
Throughout the 20th century, Karsh took over 150,000 photographic negatives, each unique by the nature of the diversity of his subjects. Many of the portraits are displayed in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts’ Rabb Gallery exhibition, titled “Karsh 100: A Biography in Images.”
By CATHERINE MOORE (camoore@bu.edu)
