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Boston

Legend of the Lens

by Barbara Claire Kasselmann

Perhaps best known for his iconic 1941 portrait of Winston Churchill, Yousuf Karsh was one of the 20th century’s finest photographers. In Boston, the city he called his “spiritual home,” the Museum of Fine Arts is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Karsh’s birth with an exhibit of 100 of his works. Karsh 100: A Biography in Images is on view through January 19, 2009.

Born in 1908 in Turkish Armenia, Karsh relocated to Canada as a teenager and later moved to Boston. He captured the images of some of the world’s most famous statesmen, artists, writers, scientists, and actors, including Albert Einstein, Audrey Hepburn, and Pablo Picasso. The exhibit includes photos of Ernest Hemingway, Jacqueline Kennedy, Sophia Loren, Georgia O’Keefe, Prince Philip, and Queen Elizabeth. Family portraits are also on exhibit, as are Karsh’s large-format camera and other artifacts. For more info, visit mfa.org.