From the Art Canada Institute The Art Canada Institute gratefully acknowledges the generosity of Power Corporation of Canada, Season Sponsor, 2025–2026 Publications; Tim and Frances Price, Title Sponsor; David Binet, Gold Sponsor; Jason Donville, Bronze Sponsor; and The Karsh Center at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Print Book Sponsor.
We thank the Founding Sponsor of the Art Canada Institute: BMO Financial Group.
The sparkling comet Yousuf Karsh zoomed past me unknowingly when I was six, a surprise discovered while researching this book: in 1968, the celebrated photographer came to my hometown, Sackville, New Brunswick, to receive a doctorate from Mount Allison University. My father, Luke Rombout, then a faculty fine arts professor and curator of the university’s Owens Gallery, was among those conferring the degree. My actual introduction to Karsh occurred when, fresh from graduate school, I joined the staff of the photographic collection at (now) Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Meeting Yousuf and Estrellita Karsh on several occasions to discuss the collection and other matters over tea as they held court at the Château Laurier was daunting, and as a junior member of the archival team, I was a bit star-struck.
I hope this volume adequately expresses my gratitude toward my former director and mentor, Lilly Koltun, for assigning me to research and catalogue the Karsh Fonds, echoing in print the many times I was able to say it during her lifetime. I wish to thank her closest friend, also my friend and colleague from those days, Dr. Joan M. Schwartz, for suggesting I might write for the Art Canada Institute’s (ACI) Canadian Online Art Book Project. The fondest wish of every former archivist turned independent curator came true: finally, a reason to have safeguarded those boxes of curatorial research from past Karsh exhibitions.
This book, designed to start new conversations about a bygone canonical artist, could not have happened without the unwavering support of my longtime Karsh colleague and friend, Jerry Fielder, curator and director of the Estate of Yousuf Karsh. Since Karsh’s death in 2002, Jerry and I have considered how new forms of photography, issues about the production of identity, and the ever-expanding circulation of images are pressing contemporary phenomena with relevant antecedents in Karsh’s own practice. A longtime advocate of my curatorial work, Estrellita Karsh passed just as this manuscript was in its final stages. Spending time with Estrellita was both scary and fun: her sharp mind, witty observations, and kind encouragement never wavered. I also appreciate the aid of Jerry’s colleague, Julie Grahame, in reading the manuscript and assisting with image reproduction.
At LAC, archivist Lisandra Cortina de la Noval helped me locate needles in the Karsh haystack and generously shared her research on the production of cultural identity in Karsh’s Maclean’s Canadian Cities images. I must also thank the many libraries that hosted me for the day while I consulted first editions of Karsh’s publications: Queen’s University, Concordia University, Carleton University, Boston Public Library, Hamilton Public Library, Halifax Public Library, and Kingston Public Library.
ACI’s Executive Director, Sara Angel, provided enthusiastic support all along the way, and working with the ACI team was as convivial as it was constructive. Commissioning Editor Victoria Nolte provided warm encouragement, capably steering the manuscript’s development and diplomatically recasting instances of my beloved Long Sentence. I owe a debt of gratitude to valuable comments made by ACI proposal and manuscript peer reviewers.
My dear friend and curatorial colleague Kate Laing also reviewed and commented on the earliest draft. Her thoughtful feedback improved the clarity of my thoughts, as did her ever-trenchant marginalia: “Really, Karsh, ready to photograph Churchill, leader of the Allied command, anxious about meeting Margaret Atwood, feminist?” Along the way, beloved friends and supporters helped me keep my courage: Dr. Joyce Harris, artist Catherine Feraday Miller (OCAD University), artist and Karsh Award laureate Christine Fitzgerald, Professor Emeritus of Art History Dr. Margaret A. Hanni (Simmons College, Boston), and most especially, my amazing partner, fellow displaced Maritimer and principal mirth-maker, Lorin Russell.
A heartfelt thank-you to everyone above. It has been a happy surprise to craft this contribution to the legacy of Yousuf Karsh. I would still be filling research boxes without your encouragement.
IMAGE SOURCES
Every effort has been made to secure permissions for all copyrighted material. The Art Canada Institute will gladly correct any errors or omissions.
The Art Canada Institute would like to thank the following for their assistance: Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.; Art Gallery of Alberta (Simone Halliday-Shaw); Art Windsor-Essex (Nicole McCabe); Bank of Canada Museum (Eugénie Marcil); The Blade (Holden Sondergeld); Canada Post (Elia Anoia); Chislehurst Digitization Inc. (Jacqueline M.E. Vincent); Cowley Abbott (Julia De Kwant); Estate of Arnaud Maggs; Estate of Edward Steichen; Estate of Sam Tata (Toni Tata); Estate of Solange Karsh (Julie Grahame); Estate of Yousuf Karsh (Julie Grahame); Fraenkel Gallery (Rebecca Robertson);Getty Images (Kristy Goldsmith); Harvard Art Museums (Katie Kujala); Ingenium (Marcia Mordfield); June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation; Lehmann Maupin (Jacob Daugherty); Library and Archives Canada (Patricia Bergeron, Eric Bilodeau, Cédric Lafontaine, and Patrick Osborne); Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Marie-Claude Saia); Musée national d’archéologie, d’histoire et d’art (Marc Kayson); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Jennifer Riley); National Gallery of Canada (Emily Putnam); Nova Scotia Archives (Jessica); Olga Korper Gallery (Thomas Schneider); Pace Gallery (Vincent Wilcke); Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation (Joree Adilman and Ryan Zhou); and Christine Fitzgerald, Catherine Opie, and Hiroshi Sugimoto.
The ACI recognizes the additional private collectors who have given permission for their works to be published in this edition.
Credit for Cover Images
Yousuf Karsh, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, November 4, 1968. (See below for details.)
Yousuf Karsh, Jessye Norman, April 4, 1990. (See below for details.)
Credit for Banner Images
Biography: Yousuf Karsh at the University of British Columbia’s new gym, taken for Maclean’s magazine, Vancouver, May 24, 1952. (See below for details.)
Key Works: Yousuf Karsh, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Photographed in His Paris Atelier, April 7, 1965, printed 1987. (See below for details.)
Significance & Critical Issues: Yousuf Karsh, Beatrice Lillie, March 18, 1948. (See below for details.)
Style & Technique: Yousuf Karsh, Hands of Gratien Gélinas, March 29, 1945. (See below for details.)
Sources & Resources: Yousuf Karsh and librarian/technician Hella Graber retrieving a filed negative at the Karsh Studio in Ottawa, February 26, 1958, photograph by Tom O’Reilly. (See below for details.)
Where to See: Installation view of Karsh: Image Maker at the Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, June 12 to September 13, 2009. (See below for details.)
Copyright & Credits: Yousuf Karsh, Self-Portrait, 1939. (See below for details.)
Production image from Submerged, Dominion Drama Festival, Ottawa, April 27, 1934. Yousuf Karsh Fonds, Collection of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (R613-739-5-E, Box: 1/X1, INT 010/X1, KAR 743, RV2 003, File 401, Item 3836745). Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
Credits for Photographs and Works by Other Artists
The 8 x 10 bellows Calumet, Yousuf Karsh’s main camera, draped with a focusing cloth made for Karsh by his assistant and librarian, Hella Graber. Ingenium—Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation, Collection of the Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa (1997.0319, 1997.0351). Courtesy of Ingenium, Ottawa. Photo credit: Ingenium.
Asia Minor: Showing Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. Also, international mandates of Iraq, Syria, and Palestine, 1925. Published by the George F. Cram Company, Chicago. Courtesy of the David Rumsey Map Collection.
Cover of Faces of Destiny, by Yousuf Karsh (Chicago: Ziff-Davis Publishing, 1946).
Cover of Faces of Our Time, by Yousuf Karsh (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971).
Cover of In Search of Greatness: Reflections of Yousuf Karsh, by Yousuf Karsh (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962).
Cover of Karsh: American Legends, by Yousuf Karsh (Boston: Bulfinch Press, 1992).
Cover of Karsh: A Sixty-Year Retrospective, by Yousuf Karsh (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1996).
Cover of Karsh Canadians, by Yousuf Karsh (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978). Private collection. Courtesy of Cowley Abbott, Toronto.
Cover of Karsh Portfolio, by Yousuf Karsh (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1967).
Cover of Karsh Portraits, by Yousuf Karsh (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976).
Cover of LIFE, May 21, 1945. Courtesy of the Estate of Yousuf Karsh.
Cover of Portraits of Greatness, by Yousuf Karsh (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1959).
Cover of Saturday Night, January 10, 1942. Collection of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries. Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries. Photo credit: University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries.
Cover of Saturday Night, November 25, 1944. Collection of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries. Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries. Photo credit: University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries.
Cover of Yousuf Karsh & John Garo: The Search for a Master’s Legacy, by Mehmed Ali (Mansfield, MA: Benna Books, 2016).
Cover of Yousuf Karsh: Industrial Images, by Cassandra Getty and Jerry Fielder (Windsor, ON: Art Gallery of Windsor, 2007). Courtesy of Art Windsor-Essex, Windsor, Ontario.
Delphic Sibyl (detail from the Sistine Chapel ceiling), 1508–12, by Michelangelo. Collection of the Vatican Museums, Vatican City. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Eastman Kodak Company’s No. 2 Brownie Model D camera with Brownie character box, 1914. Collection of the George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York, Gift of Frederick W. Randall (1988.0583.0001).
Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh at the pre–Carnation Ball event held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, April 26, 1972. Photographer unknown. Getty Images, Fairchild Archive / WWD / Penske Media (1469099373). Courtesy of Getty Images.
Installation view of Karsh: Image Maker at the Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, June 12 to September 13, 2009. Photograph by Ingenium. Courtesy of Ingenium, Ottawa.
James Stanley, Lord Strange, Later Seventh Earl of Derby, with His Wife, Charlotte, and Their Daughter, c.1636, by Anthony van Dyck. The Frick Collection, New York, Henry Clay Frick Bequest (1913.1.40). Courtesy of The Frick Collection.
Page from Yousuf Karsh’s photo essay “Karsh’s Edmonton: The Threshold of the Frontier,” featured in the December 15, 1952 issue of Maclean’s magazine.
Paul Revere, 1768, by John Singleton Copley. Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Joseph W. Revere, William B. Revere, and Edward H.R. Revere, December 4, 1930 (30.781). Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Pier 2, the Deep Water Terminals, Halifax, c.1928. Photograph by W.R. MacAskill. Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax (1987-453 number 2625). Courtesy of the Nova Scotia Archives.
Portrait of Fräulein Lieser, c.1917, by Gustav Klimt. Private collection. Courtesy of im Kinsky, Vienna.
Portrait of Yousuf Karsh, June 27, 1936. Photograph by Joseph Alexandre Castonguay. Yousuf Karsh Fonds, Collection of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (Box: RV2 084, Item 4345587). Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
Portrait of Yousuf Karsh at age twenty-two with John Garo, 1930. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of the Estate of Yousuf Karsh.
Poster for Festival Karsh, organized by the Portrait Gallery of Canada (as part of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa) and the Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, June 12 to September 13, 2009. Courtesy of Collection of Things, Ottawa.
Triumph of Religion (detail of the west wall), 1890–1919, by John Singer Sargent. Collection of the Boston Public Library. Courtesy of Digital Commonwealth, Massachusetts Collection Online. Photo credit: Sheryl Lanzel.
View of the Château Laurier situated at 1 Rideau Street in Ottawa, c.1950s, photographer unknown. Courtesy of Ilia Ekchtout on Facebook.
Yousuf and Estrellita Karsh with Jerry Fielder, Santa Barbara, 1985. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of the Estate of Yousuf Karsh.
Yousuf Karsh and his long-time master printer, Ignas Gabalis, inspecting a print of Anita Ekberg, 1957. Photograph by Chris Lund. National Film Board of Canada Fonds, Collection of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (1971-271 NPC, Box 75, Item 4949270). Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
Yousuf Karsh and Joyce Large at the Karsh Studio, 1957. Photograph by Chris Lund. National Film Board of Canada Fonds, Collection of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (4949269). Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
Yousuf Karsh at age eighteen in a family portrait, c.1926. Photograph by George Nakash. Senator Raymond Setlakwe Collection, Collection of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (R12521-1-2-E, Vol. 1, Box 2003-0284, Item 3608293). Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
Yousuf Karsh in-studio with sitter Leonard Brockington, January 12, 1945. Photograph by Eric Schaal. Yousuf Karsh Fonds, Collection of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (3613575). Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
Yousuf Karsh leaving Canada House, London, 1943. Photograph by Pictorial Press. Yousuf Karsh Fonds, Collection of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (R613-1013-8-E, Box 1B DAP-10A-3, Item 3574000). Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
Yousuf Karsh photographing on-site at Atlas Steel, Welland, Ontario, c.1950. Photographer unknown. Yousuf Karsh Fonds, Collection of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (3614802). Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
Yousuf Karsh relaxing with Ansel Adams during the Yosemite Photo Workshop, Yosemite National Park, California, June 1977. Photograph attributed to Craig McFarland. Courtesy of the Estate of Yousuf Karsh.
Yousuf Karsh with his parents, Abel al-Massih and Bahiyah Karsh, c.1948. Photographer unknown. Yousuf Karsh Fonds, Collection of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (R613-828-4-E, Box KAR 657, Item 3994516). Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.
Yousuf Karsh with his brother Malak Karsh, Ottawa, 1940s. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of the Estate of Yousuf Karsh.
Melissa Rombout is an independent curator and lecturer on histories of photography. Learn More
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