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Staff Reporter
Yousuf Karsh, a master of portrait photography, is widely known for his iconic portraits of some of the most famous men and women of the 20th century, such as Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa, Ernest Hemingway, Jacqueline Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn.
Seventy of Karsh's portraits from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston are currently part of the ``Karsh 100'' exhibition at the Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center, southern Seoul. The exhibition marks the 100th anniversary of Karsh's birth, who died in 2002 at the age of 93.
Throughout his career, the Armenian-Canadian photographer took portraits of 15,312 of the most notable people around the world.
Karsh had once written about his ``fascination for the inner power of his subjects.'' His goal was ``to photograph the great in spirit, whether they be famous or humble.''
Karsh was born Dec. 23, 1908, in Mardin, a city in what is now southeastern Turkey and grew up during the Armenian Genocide. To escape the hardship, his family moved to Syria when he was 14. When he was 16, his parents sent him to live with his uncle, a photographer, in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
Karsh showed a gift for photography, so he was sent to apprentice with renowned portrait photographer John Garo in Boston. After returning to Canada a few years later, he opened a studio in Ottawa, Ontario. He met Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, who later introduced him to visiting dignitaries for portraits.
It was his portrait of a defiant-looking British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that brought Karsh international fame. On Dec. 30, 1941, Prime Minister King arranged for a portrait to be taken after Churchill's speech at the Canadian Parliament. Churchill was caught unaware, and refused at first.
In his book ``Faces of Our Time,'' Karsh wrote that Churchill relented but only allowed two minutes to take the photograph. ``Two niggardly minutes in which I must try to put on film a man who had already written or inspired a library of books, baffled all his biographers, filled all the world with his fame, and me, on this occasion, with dread,'' he said.
Churchill had lit a cigar, but Karsh respectfully removed it from his mouth before taking the portrait. ``At this, the Churchillian scowl deepened, the head was thrust forward belligerently, and the hand placed on the hip in an attitude of anger. I clicked the shutter. Then he relaxed. `All right,' he grunted as he assumed a more benign attitude, `you may take another one'," Karsh said.
The Karsh exhibition in Seoul is divided into three sections, ``Portraits,'' featuring his famous works of people; ``On Assignment,'' showing images of post-war Canada; and ``The Early Years,'' featuring early experimental images.
Aside from the famous portraits of Churchill, Hepburn, Kennedy, Einstein and Hemingway, there are also revealing portraits of Pablo Picasso, Dwight Eisenhower, Humphrey Bogart, Jacques Costeau, Helen Keller and Fidel Castro.
Most of the photographs are black-and-white, but Karsh also made color portraits, such as the one of Italian actress Sophia Loren.
There is a special section showing portraits of renowned Korean figures taken by Korean photographers, Lim Eung-sik, Yuk Myung-sim, Park Sang-hoon, Lim Young-kyun and Kim Dong-wook.
Lim Young-kyun had a chance to meet Karsh in New York in 1982. His portrait of Karsh is included in the exhibition.
``Karsh 100'' runs through May 8. Tickets cost 8,000 won. Visit www.karshkorea.com. A possible drawback for foreign visitors: there is little English information provided at the exhibition. To get to Seoul Arts Center, leave Nambu Bus Terminal station on subway line 3 via exit 5.
cathy@koreatimes.co.kr
wow, parang ang saya makita. :)
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