Woman in a Turban (Betty Low) 1936

In 1936, Karsh made artistic studies of Betty Low—the daughter of Ottawa’s mayor and a friend of Karsh’s future wife, Solange Gauthier. Low would later become a celebrated Broadway actor and a dancer in the renowned Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. This portrait exemplifies Karsh’s signature style, formed early in his career, well before he achieved international acclaim. The extreme close-up composition emphasizes the monumentality of Low’s head, with no background details visible. Her face seems to emerge from the shadows into sudden illumination, accentuating every contour.

In the early years of Karsh’s portrait practice in Ottawa, the demands of establishing his business occupied most of his energy, leaving limited opportunities for self-directed creative work. Like his Boston mentor, John H. Garo (1870–1939), Karsh felt the pressure to balance client commissions with active membership in elite art photography circles. He regularly submitted work to national and international photography salons and was elected as an associate of the Royal Photographic Society in 1938. Woman in a Turban (Betty Low) is considered the finest among his salon submissions and was significant in establishing Karsh’s credentials as a portraitist working in the fine art tradition.

When unconstrained by a client’s schedule and expectations, Karsh felt free to try experimental approaches, balancing previsualization with sudden inspiration. During the portrait session with Low, he impulsively tore down his window curtains, draping the fabric around Low’s head and shoulders to improvise a turban. This contrived headwear shifts the portrait from a specific personality in modern time to a character evoking antiquity.

This portrait clearly reflects Karsh’s study of classical painting. Under Garo’s tutelage from 1928 to 1931, Karsh supplemented his technical skills by taking art classes at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and by studying masterworks of portraiture past and present. Through his visits to Boston’s fine art museums and great libraries, Karsh became familiar with, for example, the monumental Sistine Chapel frescoes by Michelangelo (1475–1564) featuring figures of prophets, which were reproduced in books about Renaissance art. He had further direct exposure to works from his own era, including the suite of murals entitled Triumph of Religion, 1895–1919, by Garo’s friend, the celebrated American painter John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), installed along the vaulted ceiling of the central Boston Public Library.

Karsh was also influenced by an established photographer he admired and later grew close to, Edward Steichen (1879–1973). A leading proponent of the Photo-Secession circle, established by Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946), Steichen explored the dramatic potential of classical themes. His portrait of American actor Ruth Draper, published in Vanity Fair in 1928, features the performer portraying one of her stage characters, her mournful expression illuminated against a dark shroud. Karsh’s attentive study of these precedents is evident in his own striking portrait of Draper, photographed in Ottawa in 1936.