Born in 1908 to Armenian parents living in Turkey, Yousuf Karsh and his family fled to Aleppo, Syria in 1915. In 1924, Karsh was sent to live with relatives in Canada, settling in Quebec. Karsh showed an early aptitude for the camera and from 1928 to 1931, the young artist apprenticed with prominent Armenian photographer John H. Garo in Boston. In 1932, Karsh returned to Ottawa to work with photographer John Powis and later opened his own studio in 1933. His early sitters included fellow artists, such as Lysle Courtenay, as well as the social elite from Rideau Hall, such as Governor General Lord Bessborough. Karsh became a member of the Ottawa Camera Club and began to exhibit works at the International Salon of Photography at the National Gallery of Canada from 1934 onwards. Through photographing famous figures Karsh received increasing recognition. His sitters included, Mackenzie King, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands (later Queen of the Netherlands), Paul Robeson, and Winston Churchill.
Source: "Ottawa Art & Artists: An Illustrated History", Jim Burant, Art Canada Institute, Toronto, 2022.
