Art

The most iconic image of Winston Churchill: an original studio print of superb quality, signed by the photographer Yousuf Karsh on the mount lower left and with his studio stamp on the verso. Over the years, Karsh produced a relatively small number of copies from the original negative, this being a notably fine and large example, made towards the end of his career, prior to the closure of his studio in 1992. Of Armenian heritage, Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) fled Turkey during the genocide, firstly to Syria and then to Quebec and Boston, where he apprenticed with the portrait photographer John Garo. Karsh returned to Canada and established a studio on Sparks Street in Ottawa, Ontario, close to Canada's seat of government. The Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King discovered Karsh and arranged introductions with visiting dignitaries for portrait sittings. Karsh's work attracted the attention of varied celebrities, but his place in history was sealed on 30 December 1941 when he photographed Winston Churchill. Churchill had just addressed the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, a speech remembered and acclaimed: "When I warned them that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and his divided Cabinet, 'In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken.' Some chicken! Some neck!". Karsh recounted the portrait sitting: "He was in no mood for portraiture and two minutes were all that he would allow me as he passed The most iconic image of Winston Churchill: an original studio print of superb quality, signed by the photographer Yousuf Karsh on the mount lower left and with his studio stamp on the verso. Over the years, Karsh produced a relatively small number of copies from the original negative, this being a notably fine and large example, made towards the end of his career, prior to the closure of his studio in 1992. Of Armenian heritage, Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) fled Turkey during the genocide, firstly to Syria and then to Quebec and Boston, where he apprenticed with the portrait photographer John Garo. Karsh returned to Canada and established a studio on Sparks Street in Ottawa, Ontario, close to Canada's seat of government. The Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King discovered Karsh and arranged introductions with visiting dignitaries for portrait sittings. Karsh's work attracted the attention of varied celebrities, but his place in history was sealed on 30 December 1941 when he photographed Winston Churchill. Churchill had just addressed the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, a speech remembered and acclaimed: "When I warned them that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and his divided Cabinet, 'In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken.' Some chicken! Some neck!". Karsh recounted the portrait sitting: "He was in no mood for portraiture and two minutes were all that he would allow me as he passed from the House of Commons chamber to an anteroom... Two niggardly minutes in which I must try to put on film a man who had already written or inspired a library of books, baffled all his biographers, filled the world with his fame, and me, on this occasion, with dread". Churchill marched into the room scowling, "regarding my camera as he might regard the German enemy". His expression suited Karsh perfectly, but the cigar stuck between his teeth seemed incompatible with such a solemn and formal occasion. "Instinctively, I removed the cigar. At this the Churchillian scowl deepened, the head was thrust forward belligerently, and the hand placed on the hip in an attitude of anger". The image captured Churchill and the Britain of the time perfectly - defiant and unconquerable. Churchill later said to him, "You can even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed" (Karsh, 1971, p. 38). As such, Karsh titled the photograph, "The Roaring Lion". The image of Churchill brought Karsh international prominence. He later wrote, "My portrait of Winston Churchill changed my life. I knew after I had taken it that it was an important picture, but I could hardly have dreamed that it would become one of the most widely reproduced images in the history of photography" (Karsh, 2003, p. 70). Its use as a Time front cover introduced the portrait to millions. It is currently featured as the design of the Bank of England's £5 note. For the rest of his career, Karsh was much in demand as a portraitist from sitters across the globe, including Dwight Eisenhower, Indira Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, Andy Warhol, Ernest Hemingway, Georgia O'Keefe, Audrey Hepburn, Princess Elizabeth, Princess Grace, Popes Pius XII and John Paul II, and many other leading figures in politics, sport, literature, and art. The original negative is now held with the rest of Karsh's archive by Library and Archives Canada, where taking further copies is prohibited. READ MORE Original gelatin silver print, 500 x 400 mm, on original mount, 674 x 558. Window-mounted and presented in a black stained wooden frame with museum grade acrylic glazing (705 x 600 mm). Single patch of abrasion to mount on verso, else in fine condition.