Karsh: American Legends

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto broadcaster and public relations
consultant.

This breathtaking photo collection of American celebrities (most taken
over the past two years) proves yet again that Karsh is just as much a
legend and superstar in his field as his subjects are in theirs.

Armenian by birth, Karsh has had a career in photography that now spans
60 years. He arrived in Canada in 1924, apprenticed in Boston with the
great master John H. Haro, and returned to Canada to set up shop in
Ottawa. There he had the opportunity to photograph visiting political
statesmen and dignitaries. His international reputation was assured by
his famous 1941 portrait of a “bulldog-faced” Winston Churchill,
complete with defiant glower and cigar.

Karsh has never looked back since. A Karsh portrait verifies the
importance of the subject in any number of fields around the world.
Karsh portraits are displayed in major exhibitions globally, and Karsh
himself is a popular member of the speech circuit. His works can also be
found in the permanent collections of leading museums and galleries
everywhere. He and his works have been the recipients of hundreds of
awards, including more than two dozen honorary degrees.

Each portrait in this admirable collection is accompanied by an
appropriate comment or observation by Karsh in response to the subject.
The book opens with a superb portrait of Karsh by theatre caricaturist
Al Hirschfeld. Karsh returns the favor with two brilliant studies of
Hirschfeld in front of one of the artist’s murals.

Karsh captures the playfulness of writers as diverse as Tom Wolfe, John
Updike, Norman Mailer, and Kurt Vonnegut. Great ladies of the theatre
(Helen Hayes, Julie Harris, Colleen Dewhurst, and Angela Lansbury)
simply shine. Sports legends Billie Jean King and Gordie Howe take their
place alongside culinary genius Wolfgang Puck, military genius H. Norman
Schwarzkopf, legal genius Sandra Day O’Connor, political genius Henry
Kissinger, news genius Walter Cronkite, and dozens of other greats in
art, music, medicine, education, and business.

Karsh draws out the very essence of the subject until the face mirrors
the soul. This collection proves that great photography is an art and
that Karsh is one of its greatest practitioners.