Karsh 100 in Seoul until May 8th

Karsh One-Hundred
Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center
Through May 8, 2009

"A deep-seated something about you is hidden far away. Maybe so far that you can’t even reach it yourself. But you know it as your friend, as your essence and it has shaped you into the image that you have become to the world.

Photographer Yousuf Karsh saw his job as something of a unique nature. He was a seeker of “essence”; his assignment was to capture the unknown as well as the famous in a snaphot that left the world a visual depiction to take in.

Karsh’s works are irreplaceable; some of the most recognized images of famous men and women of the 20th century. His subjects included Mother Teresa, Winston Churchill, Pablo Picasso, Dwight Eisenhower, Humphrey Bogart, Jacques Cousteau, Hellen Keller, Fidel Castro, Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, Jaqueline Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn.

Among the 100 Karsh images currently on display at Hangaram Art Museum, 70 are on loan from the collection held by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. These shots honor the 100th anniversary of Karsh’s birth. He passed away in 2002 at the age of 93. His known works amount to 15,312 images.

Born on December 23, 1908, in the city of Mardin, modern-day Turkey, Karsh grew up during the brutality of the Armenian Genocide. His family fled to Syria and two years later sent him to live with an uncle in Quebec when he was 16. He learned the art of the camera from his photographer uncle. Displaying a gift, he became an understudy of John Garo in Boston. Upon his return to Canada, he took up formal studies in Ottawa. A meeting with then Prime Minister Mackenzie King won him the chance to start a network among members of high society and the privilege of making their images. Images the world now views as these people themselves.

The vast majority of Karsh’s photos remain in black-and-white, though a handful of people were cast in color such as Italian actress Sophia Loren. On display you will also find an interesting collection of Korean figures taken by local photographers, such as Lim Eung-sik, Yuk Myung-sim, Park Sang-hoon, Lim Young Kyun and Kim Dong-wook.

Getting there: Take Line 3 to Nambu Bus Terminal Station and transfer to one of the small green shuttle buses outside Exit 5.

For more information please refer to:"
Hangaram Art Museum