YOUSUF KARSH - Armenian-Canadian photographer - (1908-2002)

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INGRID BERGMAN, 1946, Gelatin silver print.
YOUSUF KARSH - Armenian-Canadian photographer - (1908-2002)

Yousuf Karsh CC (Armenian name: Hovsep Karsh; December 23, 1908 – July 13, 2002), was an Armenian-Canadian photographer known for his portraits of notable individuals. He has been described as one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th century.

An Armenian Genocide survivor, Karsh migrated to Canada as a refugee. By the 1930s he established himself as a significant photographer in Ottawa, where he lived most of his adult life, though he traveled extensively for work. His iconic 1941 photograph of Winston Churchill was a breakthrough point in his 60-year career, through which he took numerous photos of known political leaders, men and women of arts and sciences. Over 20 photos by Karsh appeared on the cover of Life magazine, until he retired in 1992.

Karsh was born to Armenian parents on December 23, 1908 in Mardin, Diyarbekir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire. The city's Armenian population was largely Arabic-speaking.

His Armenian name Hovsep is a variant of Joseph, while Yousuf is the Arabic version of the same name. He grew up during the Armenian Genocide, during which some of his family were murdered. Karsh and his family escaped to a refugee camp in Aleppo, Syria in 1922 in a month-long journey with a Kurdish caravan. The Economist noted in their obituary of Karsh that he "thought of himself as an Armenian" and, according to Vartan Gregorian, "Although he was proud to be Canadian, Karsh was equally proud to be Armenian."