Mies van der Rohe, 1962, © Yousuf Karsh
This portrait of Mies van der Rohe was made during the first photo shoot that the newly-married Estrellita Karsh attended, in 1962. She talks about how she watched Mr. Karsh take the "imposing buddha in a wheelchair" to a corner in the architect's Bauhaus home for a quiet conversation, seeing a relationship develop, as if "a doctor with a patient." Mrs Karsh tells this story in an article for French magazine 'Beaux-Arts,' to be published in conjunction with a major exhibition at the Mona Bismarck American Center for art and culture, in October.
"The exhibition at the Mona Bismarck American Center for art & culture will reunite approximately seventy of the photographer's most striking portraits of French and American dignitaries and luminaries, juxtaposing Frank Lloyd Wright with Le Corbusier, for example, and Charles de Gaulle with Dwight Eisenhower. Original photographs will be presented alongside archival material from the dozens of Life and Paris-Match covers that Karsh captured, marking the transformation of his intimate portraits into public icons."
Then in November, we'll be at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC!
"In celebration of a major gift to its collection of more than 100 portraits created by renowned photographer Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), the National Portrait Gallery will present the exhibition Yousuf Karsh: American Portraits. Opening November 1, 2013, this exhibition will feature iconic photographs of Americans who have distinguished themselves in fields as diverse as business, medicine, entertainment, politics, and the arts. Among the portraits to be included will be those of artist Georgia O'Keeffe, physician and virologist Jonas Salk, singer Marian Anderson, actress Grace Kelly, businesswoman Elizabeth Arden, architect I.M. Pei, and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Yousuf Karsh: American Portraits will be the museum's first exhibition devoted entirely to the work of this internationally recognized portrait photographer."