KARSH, YOUSUF

Karsh arrived in Canada in 1925, aged 17, with little to his name. He had dreamed of becoming a doctor and although fortune led him to become a master photographer, he always felt an affinity for the medical profession. He made many portraits of doctors and when in 1962 he photographed Dr. Walter Alvarez, a medical specialist and author, he would meet Estrellita Nachbar, a medical writer, editor, and his wife-to-be.

Karsh considered the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to be his university, studying the artworks there while he apprenticed with John Garo in the 1920s. He would return to the museum throughout his life.

In 1998, Karsh celebrated his 90th birthday. Queen Elizabeth II opened his exhibition, “Karsh in London,” at the renovated Canada House in Trafalgar Square. That same year Karsh was honored with the Fox Talbot Award. He died in Boston in July, 2002.

(Karsh.org, 2025)