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asmith
7-Oct-2010, 00:12
Flew to Los Angeles a few weeks ago to see the KARSH: REGARDING HEROS exhibit at USC's Fisher Museum of Art. One hundred of Karsh's best known B&W portraits were displayed in print sizes from 11X14 to 16X20.

I've seen many of Karsh's B&W portraits published in his various books and online. However, to see the actual images in their finished print form is an incredible experience. Some of his portraits look as though the subject is about to step out of the frame and greet you. Incredible range of tones, highlights and shadows, and the finest details are observed. And of course the lighting is masterful.

My favorite Karsh portrait (at least today) is of Clark Gable (c. 1949) because it exemplifies the very best of Karsh's masterful craft. Technically, the Gable portrait is about as perfect as perfect can be. See attached Gable portrait.

Which Karsh B&W portrait is your favorite -- and why?

Bruce Watson
7-Oct-2010, 05:55
I think my favorite is the one made of Pablo Casals -- from the rear. One of the best portraits ever.

Bill_1856
7-Oct-2010, 06:59
I'm lucky to own a Karsh "Churchill," so of course that's my favorite, as it is a unique and ikonic image.
Of his "ordinary" images, I recently saw a picture (in the National Geographic, I believe) and without reading the caption I said to myself, "That must be Sir Edmund Hillary, and it had to be taken by Karsh!" I was right, of course, as the essence of the great man almost exploded off the page.
Mein Gott, such insight as Karsh sometimes had!

Jay DeFehr
7-Oct-2010, 07:50
Karsh was a genius, and produced innumerable masterpieces of portraiture. To my mind, his is the greatest body of portrait work ever produced by a photographer, and subject matter aside, Karsh is among the greatest photographers who ever lived. My favorite, of course, is his portrait of the beautiful Estrellita Karsh. Who wouldn't fall in love with her?!

I find myself falling into a kind of stupor looking at Karsh's portraits. My mind rolls over the photographer, the subject and the photograph in a randomly continuous way, admiring them all independently and in combination, and I always emerge inspired.

cowanw
7-Oct-2010, 08:04
I am partial to #33 of the children series as these are my cousins. In any case you may be interested in this series in the Ottawa Citizen which is a sampling of ordinary people.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/karsh/photos/index.html
Regards
Bill

Hovmod
7-Oct-2010, 08:06
I wasn't aware of this until recently, but my idea of what most famous people in the 20th century looked like was pretty much dictated by Karsh's portraits. :)
It's a bit like how half of English proverbs are Shakespeare originals...

Favourite? Nah.

Tony Flora
7-Oct-2010, 08:53
The Betty low portrait is one of my favorite.

His work can be found here http://www.karsh.org/

Jay DeFehr
7-Oct-2010, 09:22
The Betty Low is amazing, and I love the story about how he improvised her turban.

Michael Graves
7-Oct-2010, 09:33
Ernest Hemingway.

Andrew
7-Oct-2010, 13:11
I've always liked the Bogart portrait [even without having any idea of who took it!]
how can you go past the cigarette and rising plume of smoke

SocalAstro
7-Oct-2010, 13:24
Mine would have to be the portrait of the rock band Rush. It was my first introduction to Karsh when I was in college :-) It's a sentimental thing I suppose.


My GF and I are going to check out the exhibit next week sometime BTW.

-Leon

JamesFromSydney
7-Oct-2010, 18:13
I really love the George Bernard Shaw photo, and the story behind it. Apparently Shaw sat down and delivered a brief anecdote, then leaned to deliver the punchline, at which point Karsh took the shot.

3rd photo here (http://haynesgalleries.com/hgSite/pages/artistPage/yousufKarsh/artist-yousufKarsh-works.html).

papah
7-Oct-2010, 18:25
Ernest Hemingway.

My favorite, too:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1986.1098.12

Especially since I have a framed letter from him signed:
"...from your not-so-great Uncle,
Ernest Hemingway,
Havana, 1955"

Shen45
7-Oct-2010, 20:29
I spent a very enjoyable period of time going through the "star" portraits by Karsh and watching the interview with his wife. My thanks to those that have posted links.

Here is a question someone may have an answer for. I presume the majority of the work Karsh produced was on 10x8 most likely from what I understand with a 14" Commercial Ektar probably in the 11 - 16 aperture range [pure guesses :) ]

How would that translate to a 5x4? - Roughly??

What lens, aperture etc?

His use of hard hot lights is just wonderful.

debanjan
8-Oct-2010, 05:03
Pablo Casal.. followed closely by that of Helen Keller and her associate.

bob carnie
8-Oct-2010, 05:33
I am a fan of Karsh, the image of Churchill being my favourite .

But not to be party pooper, a lot of his work to me at least seemed very staged and contrived, specifically all the silly positioning of the subjects hands.

All time best portrait photogapher for me would be August Sander . His work IMHO is much more potent.

John T
8-Oct-2010, 06:29
Ernest Hemingway.

Camera Obscura Gallery in Denver has one for sale

Jay DeFehr
8-Oct-2010, 07:47
Bob,

I too admire Sander, but I don't find his work comparable to Karsh's. Sander's work was documentary; a collective portrait of a people, while Karsh's portraits were decidedly individual, most of his subjects being notable personalities. I think Sander's work is more directly comparable to that of Lewis Hine, another favorite of mine.

bob carnie
8-Oct-2010, 07:59
Jay

The early work of Sander ,studio portraits of military and other elite sitters is very comparable to Karsh's work, different era of course but all the same very compelling.
He was forced to move in the more documentary style later in life, partly or wholly due to what was happening in Europe at the time.

btw, I do like Karsh's work as earlier stated , but I do not think his work stands up to Sander's.

Bob

Bob,

I too admire Sander, but I don't find his work comparable to Karsh's. Sander's work was documentary; a collective portrait of a people, while Karsh's portraits were decidedly individual, most of his subjects being notable personalities. I think Sander's work is more directly comparable to that of Lewis Hine, another favorite of mine.

Don Dudenbostel
8-Oct-2010, 08:21
To see Karsh's work in books is one thing but in person is another. It's amazing to say the least. I have a tough time deciding which is my favorite as there are so many that are stunning.

Another photographer that I consider comparable is Edward Steichen. I believe Steichen to be one of the finest if not the finest photographers of all time.

asmith
8-Oct-2010, 09:48
I'm curious...

Is there any general agreement among professionals and members of this forum as to which photographic portratists produced work in the style of Karsh, adopting similar lighting techniques, negative retouching, and print finishing? If so, what are there names? And are there any portratists working today who have produced work of comparable style and quality?

Armin Seeholzer
8-Oct-2010, 12:37
Phillip Halsman is for me the bigger master, but its maybe just for me!
But also Karsh was a master of course, my favorite from him is the Churchill where he just shocked Churchill because he took his cygar out of hes face!

Cheers Armin

bob carnie
8-Oct-2010, 12:58
I know of a few who worked as assistants, and are still photographers today, but their work is completely different , with strobe lights and phase backs.
Dean Macdonnel Photography in Toronto is one who assisted Karsh.

Karsh and others of that time frame worked with large film, developed by inspection, heavily red coccine their negatives , and worked with papers just not available in the last 30 years.
Commercially I am not aware of many working this way.

Presently in a non commercial way, Dr Mark Nowaczynski who is in the current View Camera issue along with Frank Petrino , uses large format, strobes, flash bulbs and natural light . I print all his work but am not a retoucher so we do not go down the red coccine route.
Tony Houser of Toronto would be another photographer who I feel would have been touched/influenced by Mr Karsh's imagery.

I'm curious...

Is there any general agreement among professionals and members of this forum as to which photographic portratists produced work in the style of Karsh, adopting similar lighting techniques, negative retouching, and print finishing? If so, what are there names? And are there any portratists working today who have produced work of comparable style and quality?

jwaddison
8-Oct-2010, 17:06
My favorite, too:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1986.1098.12

Especially since I have a framed letter from him signed:
"...from your not-so-great Uncle,
Ernest Hemingway,
Havana, 1955"

I forget where I read this story, but apparently Karsh was a little nervous about taking Hemingway's portrait. When he arrived at Hemingway's residence one morning, Hemingway asked if he'd like a drink. Since Hemingway was known as a drinking man, Karsh asked for a Scotch (or something alcoholic), and Hemingway said something like, "Good Grief Karsh, at this hour?"

jwaddison
8-Oct-2010, 17:11
Was the Helen Keller photo with President Eisenhower taken by Karsh?

Michael Graves
8-Oct-2010, 17:38
Camera Obscura Gallery in Denver has one for sale

How many of my houses would I have to sell to afford it?

Assuming of course I actually had a house that I wasn't living in to sell, that is.

jp
14-Oct-2010, 08:01
I just checked out the Karsh exhibit at Haynes Gallery in Thomaston ME. Lots of really nice 20x24 prints, most are 9/100 edition labeled and in the $10k-18k range. A couple are lent and aren't for sale. You really have to see them big rather than in a book. Sounds like a lot of money, but we have people in the community that spend more than that on their entertainment A/V systems in their summer houses here.

Really nice tones on all of them, especially the mid and dark tones. Most portraits today aren't real strong on the shadows. Since it's mostly shot with LF, you get to see every single pore and every single stray eyebrow hair on the subjects. There were 1-2 soft heavily retouched images, but for the most part it was classy black, straight sharp photos, with the tender,understated lighting. Many of the men photographed I'm sure had a recent straight razor shave and were pretty casual about wearing nice formal suits.

I liked the Shaw portrait the most, then probably Hemmingway because it wasn't the suit and tie sort of portrait that Karsh is often associated with, but it's still got the nice dark and midrange tones.

The benefit of seeing them in person is clearly a combination of image quality and B&W print quality. It shows off the lighting and printing technique in an inspiring sort of way. They are also the type of images that were meant to be 16x20 or larger for the most part.

Scotty230358
14-Oct-2010, 14:24
My favourite would be George Bernard Shaw

FLC
22-Oct-2010, 14:07
Asking which Karsh portrait is one's favorite
is like trying to eat just one Lay's potato chip.

Several favorites:

Stephen B. Leacock, General John Pershing, Harold L. Ickes, Ronald Reagan.

Karsh is on Facebook and there are some very fine examples of his work there, as well as at www.ottawacitizen.com.



Flew to Los Angeles a few weeks ago to see the KARSH: REGARDING HEROS exhibit at USC's Fisher Museum of Art. One hundred of Karsh's best known B&W portraits were displayed in print sizes from 11X14 to 16X20.

I've seen many of Karsh's B&W portraits published in his various books and online. However, to see the actual images in their finished print form is an incredible experience. Some of his portraits look as though the subject is about to step out of the frame and greet you. Incredible range of tones, highlights and shadows, and the finest details are observed. And of course the lighting is masterful.

My favorite Karsh portrait (at least today) is of Clark Gable (c. 1949) because it exemplifies the very best of Karsh's masterful craft. Technically, the Gable portrait is about as perfect as perfect can be. See attached Gable portrait.

Which Karsh B&W portrait is your favorite -- and why?

Gudmundur Ingolfsson
22-Oct-2010, 14:54
Jean Sibelius.

B.S.Kumar
22-Oct-2010, 16:37
I picked up a slightly frayed copy of his book in Bombay, long before I got interested in photography. I had just seen the movie Roman Holiday, and was enthralled by Audrey Hepburn, who was as beautiful in the book as in the movie.

Kumar

neil poulsen
23-Oct-2010, 11:43
My favorite Karsh is the 1954 photograph he took of Pablo Casals warming up in a round, rock room.

Casals has his back to the camera, but you know instantly who it is.

That's a great photograph!

Here's an example on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/shelchen9210/2896842462/

Jim Shanesy
23-Oct-2010, 15:17
Jean Sibelius.

He took a lot of pictures of Sibelius. My favorite Karsh portrait is this one (http://www.geh.org/ne/mismi3/m198130600001_ful.html#topoftext), because of the overall sense of light. It glows.

Bill_1856
23-Oct-2010, 17:21
I'm lucky to own a Karsh "Churchill," so of course that's my favorite, as it is a unique and ikonic image.
Of his "ordinary" images, I recently saw a picture (in the National Geographic, I believe) and without reading the caption I said to myself, "That must be Sir Edmund Hillary, and it had to be taken by Karsh!" I was right, of course, as the essence of the great man almost exploded off the page.
Mein Gott, such insight as Karsh sometimes had!

http://www.pixelsaway.com/gravures/directory/hillary.htm

Hovmod
23-Oct-2010, 22:11
He took a lot of pictures of Sibelius. My favorite Karsh portrait is this one (http://www.geh.org/ne/mismi3/m198130600001_ful.html#topoftext), because of the overall sense of light. It glows.

Outstanding.
But wouldn't someone here have told me that I blew it, cutting his finger like that, had I posted that portrait under my name? :)

neil poulsen
24-Oct-2010, 00:31
Outstanding.
But wouldn't someone here have told me that I blew it, cutting his finger like that, had I posted that portrait under my name? :)

It would be interesting to have access to the negative, to determine whether that was the limit of the negative, or whether it was deliberate.

For me, it's a stronger photograph with the fingers cut off in that fashion.

Jim Shanesy
24-Oct-2010, 19:36
Outstanding.
But wouldn't someone here have told me that I blew it, cutting his finger like that, had I posted that portrait under my name? :)

Yes, someone here would have done so. What's worse, they would also have told Karsh.

CarstenW
30-Oct-2010, 13:28
I also think I prefer the Hemingway, but he has so many good ones, it is hard to choose. Shaw, Sibelius, Churchill, Grace Kelly, Castro, Giacometti, Georgia O'Keefe, Mauriac, Schweitzer, Picasso... I also love his Kruschev portrait, but find his JFK oddly lacking.