100TH ANNIVERSARY OF YOUSUF KARSH CELEBRATED BY EXHIBITION IN RHODE ISLAND

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.03.2009 00:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum
of Art presents two complementary exhibitions from February 27
to August 23 which highlight portraits of artists. Yousuf Karsh:
Portraits of Artists and Facing Artists: Twentieth Century Portraits
from the Collection will showcase the work of the photographer Yousuf
Karsh and other artists such as Andy Warhol, Lucien Freud, and Pablo
Picasso. The two exhibitions are presented in adjoining galleries
and offer the visitor the opportunity to make connections between
the various artists, artdaily reports.

The Karsh exhibition celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth
of Yousuf Karsh (Canadian, born Armenia, 1908-2002) as part of a
nationwide celebration. Karsh is one of the most celebrated portrait
photographers of the twentieth century. More than 15,000 people
sat in front of Karsh’s camera–from ordinary citizens to such
influential figures as Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein. Karsh
made a concerted effort to record the century’s most accomplished
individuals, especially those in the arts. A selection of twenty-seven
photographs of visual artists and designers comprise this exhibition;
all are promised gifts to The RISD Museum from the artist’s estate
administered by his wife, Estrellita Karsh.

The exhibition of portraits drawn from the Museum’s collection consists
of portraits of literary, performing, and visual artists by a broad
range of twentieth-century artists associated with the genre.

Yousuf or Josuf (his given Armenian name was Hovsep) Karsh was born in
Mardin, a city in the eastern Ottoman Empire (currently in Turkey). He
grew up during the Armenian Genocide. At the age of 14, he fled with
his family to Syria to escape persecution. Two years later, his parents
sent Yousuf to live in Canada with his uncle, who was a photographer.

The image of Churchill brought Karsh international prominence, and
is claimed to be the most reproduced photographic portrait in history.