B&W print quality: What was Karsh's darkroom and finishing technique?

Just returned from an exhibition at USC in Los Angeles entitled "Karsh: Regarding Heroes." The exhibit features 100 of Yousuf Karsh's portraits of world renowned luminaries.

Although I've read extensively about Karsh's work in the studio, it seems that very little has been written about his trademark darkroom and print finishing techniques. For instance, how does he achieve such depth and luminosity in his portraits? Is this a function of retouching B&W negatives? And the incredible tonality of his prints; is this readily achievable using today's B&W emulsions?

Thoughts, insights?

Where is the exhibit? I'd like to go.

Fisher Museum of Art, University of Southern California. May also be known as Fisher Art Gallery or Fisher Art Museum.

Thank you. I googled it and it looks great! Thanks for the heads up. BTW, the luminosity you see is most likely the reflection of the strobe sources on the face. This is something we try to avoid in motion pictures, but Karsh used to great effect -- no powder for his subjects, at least no SOP. :-)

hi FLC

it is possible to get similar results using modern films and papers.
i worked for someone who made similar portraits. she shot everything on
tri x and tri x ortho, i processed everything in dk50 ( deeptank/hangers + replenished )
and printed everything on ilford paper processed in dektol.
everything was retouched with leads / graphite ..
sometimes prints were knife etched, sometimes they were dusted with graphite ...

this was in the 1980s ...

sometimes to get brilliant shine / highlights vaseline was used ...

It's a lot more about the lighting than the materials. You could do it with digital even ;-)

Karsh never used strobes:just tungsten lights and yes retouching plays a huge part. His biography has an unretouched example of Churchill and the finished print. This shows how the use of retouching creates the highlights. See
The Life of Yousuf Karsh: Portrait in Light and Shadow
Author: Maria Tippett
There is a discussion of his developing techiques in that book, Developer, paper etc. He did develop by inspection to a thinner than expected negative.
Regards
Bill

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Originally Posted by FLC

Just returned from an exhibition at USC in Los Angeles entitled "Karsh: Regarding Heroes." The exhibit features 100 of Yousuf Karsh's portraits of world renowned luminaries.

Although I've read extensively about Karsh's work in the studio, it seems that very little has been written about his trademark darkroom and print finishing techniques. For instance, how does he achieve such depth and luminosity in his portraits? Is this a function of retouching B&W negatives? And the incredible tonality of his prints; is this readily achievable using today's B&W emulsions?

Thoughts, insights?

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I think the short answer is that yes, these things are possible. Today's b&w emulsions are probably better than what was available to him. It's mostly lighting.

To me, Irving Penn's pictures blow Karsh's out of the water. And he was making a lot of contact prints, which offer a lot less room for manipulation. Also I recently saw a bunch of Avedon's 8x10 contact prints at the MFA in Boston, and they were straight up amazing too.

I always thought he used hot lights, maybe fresnels just like the movie sets. The prints themselves - maybe at one point a relatively cold-toned DuPont paper and typical MQ developer. The effect is easily replicated with some of today's papers,
especially with a little gold toner to cool the final image a bit.

Sully - I don't get the comparison to either Penn or Avedon. Karsh was after a completely different look, a lot more direct, and a fairly direct contrasty silver print
suited his personal style superbly. Just can't imagine someone like Winston Churchill
being commemorated by Avedon's capricious high-jinks, or Penn's soft fashion touch.
The direct, acutely-focussed glare, printed good and hard, was just the touch needed
by history.