Like a cat bringing a mouse to its owner, a tattooist in England reported this rendering of a self-portrait by Mr. Karsh to our curator. The gentleman doesn't know quite how he found the image, nor did he know who it was until recently, but had "managed to convince one of my friends to have the portrait"... we don't know where. The big joke among my Karsh colleagues is how I plan to handle this copyright infringement.

I love to publish Karsh in my blog but hate to bore anyone by over-doing it. So I publish when something presents itself. In a classic Karsh pose, this is Joseph Roberts "Joey" Smallwood, a controversial character who was ultimately responsible for bringing Newfoundland into the Canadian confederation in 1948, becoming its first premiere* in 1949, the same year in which he was Karshed.


*tautology?



Joseph Smallwood, 1949 © Yousuf Karsh

Life at the Karsh archive is always fascinating, entertaining and enlightening. I was contacted recently by a woman who shared the story of her mother's sitting with Mr. Karsh.

"It would have been late '30's, early '40's - from his Sparks St. Mall studio. She used to tell us this great story about it. She had booked the appointment and it was pouring rain out, so she wore a raincoat with a hood to protect her hairdo. When she walked in, Karsh stopped her and said, "Don't move! I'm going to take your photo just like that!" But she had saved up all her money for a professional portrait, so she pooh-poohed that idea and took the raincoat off. The portrait is lovely, but she regretted her haste in later years, and thought it would have made a really interesting photograph with the raindrops glistening on her hood."

I first heard about the impending release of the Jackie Kennedy tapes a few weeks ago when a tabloid called looking for Karsh photographs to illustrate an article. I declined and forgot about it until the tapes started to hit the news and I found myself listening agog.

Yousuf Karsh photographed Mrs Kennedy in 1957, and here is his story:

"Widowhood and adversity had not yet touched the glamorous young wife of the handsome Senator from Massachusetts. Our meeting was at Hammersmith, her mother's home in Newport. I photographed her against a Coromandel screen that complemented her dark beauty. Weeks later, in New York, she saw me walking down Fifth Avenue and rushed toward me to inquire breathlessly about her photographs. Our last meeting was shortly before her untimely death, when she came to my exhibition 'American Legends.' She stood alone at the entrance, her quiet presence penetrating the crowd."

Jacqueline Kennedy, 1957 © Yousuf Karsh

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

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

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