On View
Not on viewObject number2011.107
Winston Churchill
Artist
Yousuf Karsh
(Canadian, 1908-2002)
Date1941
Mediumgelatin silver print
Dimensionsimage flush: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
mat: 30 × 24 in. (76.2 × 61 cm)
mat: 30 × 24 in. (76.2 × 61 cm)
Credit LineGift of Estrellita Karsh in memory of Yousuf Karsh
Exhibition History"Copley to Kentridge: What's New in the Collection?," KIA (Sept.14 - Dec. 1, 2013).
"Lasting Legacy: A Collection for Kalamazoo," Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan (Sep. 6, 2014 - Jan. 4, 2015).Label TextIn 1941, the Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, invited me to be present while Churchill addressed the Canadian Parliament….After the electrifying speech, I waited in the Speaker’s Chamber where I had set up my lights and camera. I switched on my floodlights; a surprised Churchill growled, “What’s this, what’s this?” I timorously stepped forward and said, “Sir, I hope I will be fortunate enough to make a portrait worthy of this historic occasion.”
Churchill lit a fresh cigar, puffed at it with a mischievous air, and then magnanimously relented. Churchill’s cigar was ever present. I held out an ashtray, but he would not dispose of it. I went back to my camera and waited; he continued to chomp vigorously at his cigar. Then I said “Forgive me, sir,” and plucked the cigar out of his mouth. By the time I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent he could have devoured me.
It was at that instant that I took the photograph. The silence was deafening. Then, smiling benignly, he shook my hand, and said, “You can even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed.”
Yousuf Karsh
