Yousuf Karsh

This is a breath-taking collection of images from one of the most famous and accomplished portrait photographers of all time. Yousuf Karsh's (1908-2002) lifelong ambition was to search for a form within a face, one that could become a symbol for a life that was purposeful, meaningful, and generally virtuous. In his sixty-year career, he seldom wavered from this goal, even when fame and fortune courted him. Nor did he discard his trademark variations in lighting style that he perfected in the late 1940s. Unchanging, too, was his genius at capturing the ephemeral expressions that would reveal his sitter's psychology, those fleeting disclosures of character and purpose his famous sitters trusted him to expose. He was the preferred photographer of kings, queens, princes, presidents, prime ministers and generals because he rendered them with an unbiased and unfailing regard for their dignity. With musicians, artists, writers, scientists, actors, and other creative intellectuals, he shared a similar ambition: to create works of art of lasting value.
In making what now seem singular, monumental statements honoring those he considered his contemporary heroes, he stood alone in his field, so much so that it could be argued he was the last of his kind. This large-format volume brings together one-hundred of Karsh's most iconic images, including Muhammad Ali, Brigitte Bardot, Fidel Castro, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Audrey Hepburn. "Regarding Heroes" is a dazzling reminder of the breadth of Karsh's vision and the brilliance of his technique. The introductory essay by David Travis takes serious critical stock of the importance of Karsh's work and his place in the pantheon of major portrait artists.