Karsh

Barry Goldwater

Senator Barry Goldwater, 1963 © Yousuf Karsh

Out of the corner of the eye I keep on Twitter I noticed my photo-network-pal Pete Brook mention Barry Goldwater. I followed his link through to The Photo Exchange and from there to the Barry Goldwater Photographs website; he was an avid and talented photographer, and all of Goldwater's four children spent time in his darkroom during their childhood.

The senator's estate published a book, "The Eyes of His Soul, The Visual Legacy of Barry M. Goldwater, Master Photographer (2003)" and on its web page Goldwater's son, Michael, writes "Famed photographer Yousuf Karsh, on assignment for Life Magazine, arrived at our home in Phoenix during the 1964 presidential campaign and spent three days surveying sites and checking the light without clicking the shutter once until the last day. The photographs were beautiful. Dad told me later that I had just learned an important lesson from a Master Photographer that he greatly admired."

Karsh | Permalink |

Zsa Zsa Gabor

aCurator just wanted to post something glamorous after a strange weekend.

Zsa Zsa Gabor © Yousuf Karsh

Karsh | Permalink |

Gone With The Wind

Here in New York we're battening down the hatches in advance of Hurricane Irene. I spent a while trying to think of a Karsh photograph to tie in and this is the best I could do!

Clark Gable, 1948 © Yousuf Karsh

Karsh | Permalink |

Charles Schultz

As much as Jim Henson and the Muppets were a major part of childhood, it's Peanuts for which I feel the most love. Snoopy and Woodstock featured heavily in my childhood and I often think about Snoopy's happy dance when I'm feeling like celebrating.

A portrait of Charles Schultz was donated by Mrs Karsh to the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery last year and is the Gallery's first image of the cartoonist.

Charles Schultz, 1988 © Yousuf Karsh

Karsh | Permalink |

Jim Henson

New York's Museum of the Moving Image is the current venue for 'Jim Henson's Fantastic World', a traveling exhibition by the Smithsonian Institution. "The exhibition spans Henson's entire career, with drawings, cartoons, and posters produced during his college years in the late 1950s and objects related to the inspired imaginary world of his popular 1982 fantasy film, The Dark Crystal. The exhibition features artifacts from Henson's best-known projects, The Muppet Show, The Muppet Movie and its sequels, Fraggle Rock, and Sesame Street, in addition to materials from Sam and Friends, an early show he created in the 1950s, and his pioneering television commercial work in the 1960s."
Miss Piggy, Kermit and Bert and Ernie are all there as well! Let's go!

Jim Henson © Yousuf Karsh

I'm pretty excited to update this post with the OK Go cover of the Muppet Theme Show.

Karsh | Permalink |

Edward and Mrs Simpson

Listening to NPR this morning and they mentioned Edward and Mrs Simpson. A new TV program 'l Wallis Simpson: The Secret Letters' is set to broadcast next week in the UK. The Scotsman online ever-so eloquently writes "Wallis Simpson, the woman for whom Edward VIII abdicated the throne, may still have been in love with her husband, unseen letters have shown."

It's an excuse to re-post this image and story:

I got an inquiry from someone who was on their cell phone in a supermarket. I could have sworn he asked about pictures of Henry VIII. It took a while to work out he was talking about some guy who taught the Duke of Windsor to play golf. He hung up on me after accusing me of trying to hold his project hostage with my licensing fees.

Edward, Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson, 1971 © Yousuf Karsh

Karsh | Permalink |

Andy Warhol

There's always one or other of us Karsh folks with our hands in a box looking for something fabulous. Our supreme scanmaster is in his secret location somewhere in the wilds of Canada pulling colour images and digitizing them for our ever-expanding non-analog archives.

Andy Warhol, 1979 © Yousuf Karsh

Karsh | Permalink |

Betty Ford

The one and only Betty Ford, 1918 - 2011

Karsh, Obits | Permalink |

Calgary Stampede

Calgary Stampede © Yousuf Karsh

Prince William and Duchess Catherine attended the annual Calgary Stampede this year. Mr Karsh took this photograph in 1953.

Karsh | Permalink |

The Glendale School's Karsh Project

We would like to congratulate teachers Jennifer Grimm, Lydia Hardacre and Darren Vaast of Glendale School, Calgary, on the completion of their brilliant Karsh project. Each of the Grade 5 and 6 students recreated a Karsh portrait and also made a documentary style movie based on the person they each chose.

"This project really came about through serendipity and involved a wistful desire to go to the Glenbow Museum and a chance look at the upcoming shows to discover that a Yousuf Karsh exhibition was coming to Calgary. After an innocent email asking for permission to use Karsh portraits as inspirations, we had our final photography assignment!"

After learning about Mr Karsh's history, the students referenced dozens of portraits including Mandela, Hemingway, Schweitzer, Warhol, Hepburn, Keller, Cousteau and Bogart, researching their subjects and recreating the original photograph.

Click through to 'Finished Products' to enjoy the complete set of images and videos - you might even learn a thing or two! Nothing I did at school came close to being this cool!