Work of legendary portraitist Yousuf Karsh celebrated at Boston exhibit - Churchill, Hepburn, Picasso, and more

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The work of the legendary portraitist is celebrated at a centenary exhibit at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Among the portraits -

Audrey Hepburn, 1956
"The French novelist Colette picked her out of a ballet lineup to play Gigi on stage, and her career was launched. When I photographed her in Hollywood and commented on her quality of sophisticated vulnerability, she told me of her harrowing experiences during the Second World War. Years later, in the Kremlin, Chairman Brezhnev agreed to sit for me only if I made him as beautiful as Audrey Hepburn."

Winston Churchill, 1941
"In 1941, Churchill visited first Washington and then Ottawa. The Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, invited me to be present and to observe Churchill's expressions, moods, and attitudes while he addressed the Canadian Parliament. After the electrifying speech, I waited in the Speaker's Chamber where, the evening before, I had set up my lights and camera. The Prime Minister, arm-in-arm with Churchill and followed by his entourage, started to lead him into the room. I switched on my floodlights; a surprised Churchill growled, "What's this, what's this?" No one had the courage to explain. I timorously stepped forward and said, "Sir, I hope I will be fortunate enough to make a portrait worthy of this historic occasion." He glanced at me and demanded, "Why was I not told?" When his entourage began to laugh, this hardly helped matters for me. Churchill lit a fresh cigar, puffed at it with a mischievous air, and then magnanimously relented. "You may take one." But to get the giant to walk grudgingly from his corner to where my lights and camera were set up some little distance away was a feat! Churchill's cigar was ever present. I held out an ashtray, but he would not dispose of it. I went back to my camera and made sure that everything was all right technically. I waited; he continued to chomp vigorously at his cigar. I waited. Then I stepped toward him and, without premeditation, but ever so respectfully, I said, "Forgive me, sir," and plucked the cigar out of his mouth. By the time I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent he could have devoured me. It was at that instant that I took the photograph. The silence was deafening. Then, Mr. Churchill, smiling benignly, said, "You may take another one." He walked toward me, shook my hand, and said, "You can even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed."

Ernest Hemingway, 1957
"I expected to meet in the author a composite of the heroes of his novels. Instead, in 1957, at his home Finca Vigía, near Havana, I found a man of peculiar gentleness, the shyest man I ever photographed - a man cruelly battered by life, but seemingly invincible. He was still suffering from the effects of a plane accident that occurred during his fourth safari to Africa. I had gone the evening before to La Floridita, Hemingway's favorite bar, to do my "homework" and sample his favorite concoction, the daiquiri. But one can be over prepared! When, at nine the next morning, Hemingway called from the kitchen, "What will you have to drink?" my reply was, I thought, letter-perfect: "Daiquiri, sir." "Good God, Karsh," Hemingway remonstrated, "at this hour of the day!"

Betty Low, 1936
"I photographed this rising young ballerina and actress at the beginning of her prestigious career. She went on to dance in the renowned de Basil's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and later acted in numerous productions on the New York stage. Today, she still pursues an active career in New York. In a recent letter, she recalled for me how I improvised her turban from the window curtains, which I tore down and draped around her head and shoulders."

Jacques Cousteau, 1972
"In his wetsuit, his profile reminiscent of a thirteenth-century mystic, Jacques Cousteau reminded me of a medieval seer. As I photographed this knight of the twentieth century, I was fascinated to learn about his underwater research. "It is the key to human survival," Cousteau said. He warned that man is gravely endangering this vital resource. All land pollutants eventually find their way to the oceans and "we risk poisoning the sea forever, just when we are learning her scenic art and philosophy, and learning to live in her embrace."

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Photos courtesy of and original Source: Time

Related Sites: Yousuf Karsh / Photographer (official site) and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston