Yousuf Karsh: First major exhibition in 30 years opens in London

PanARMENIAN.Net - An exhibition of portraits by Armenian–Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh has opened at the photography gallery Beetles + Huxley, London, set to run through October 22, The Guardian reported Tuesday, September 27.

This is the first major London exhibition in 30 years of portraits by the renowned photographer, according to Beetles + Huxley.

Karsh captured portraits of everyone from Albert Einstein to Martin Luther King during his career – as well as some of the century’s greatest artists, musicians and actors.

Announcing the launch of the exhibition in a Fcebook post, Beetles + Huxley said Karsh was one of the most respected and acclaimed photographers of the century: “Fascinated by "greatness", he aimed to capture the essential character of his sitters, instilling them with both charisma and dignity in his nearly 60-year career.”

In 1921, Karsh’s family escaped the Armenian Genocide into Syria, with a single donkey their only real possession.

He took up photography at an early age, and his breakthrough came with a portrait of Winston Churchill that ended up on the cover of Time magazine. Another photograph from the same session with Churchill graces the UK’s new £5 banknote.