Pictures I like

[North Star]

Other Karsh portraits...

   

     

       

   

   

   

   

[Ken B]

Remarkable series of portraits. Audrey actually looks rather unattractive there.

But I like the particular application of a general rule: Canadians are always to be admired. 

[George]

(from above)



I really like this one.

[Wakefield]

Remarkable series of portraits, no doubt. But I have this observation: all of them are like perfect official portraits of the "personage," but they don't say anything new about the "human being." I mean, it seems that the photographer caught just what the subject wanted to show, not a single millimetre beyond that... 

[kishnevi]

...et les femmes...



Pablo Picasso

She wasn't from Avignon, I presume.

[kishnevi]

Remarkable series of portraits, no doubt. But I have this observation: all of them are like perfect official portraits of the "personage," but they don't say anything new about the "human being." I mean, it seems that the photographer caught just what the subject wanted to show, not a single millimetre beyond that...

Not necessarily.  The Churchill is famous because Karsh grabbed the cigar out of his mouth just before snapping the photo,to make sure he got the seriously p.o.'d look Karsh wanted.

[North Star]

Remarkable series of portraits, no doubt. But I have this observation: all of them are like perfect official portraits of the "personage," but they don't say anything new about the "human being." I mean, it seems that the photographer caught just what the subject wanted to show, not a single millimetre beyond that...

Well he aimed at flattery and accurate portrayal of the person, and their fame - which is much more than what other portrait photographers have done consistently. With that artistic goal, I am not sure what new he might have said with the portraits that would still be new to our eyes?

[Ken B]

Well he aimed at flattery and accurate portrayal of the person, and their fame - which is much more than what other portrait photographers have done consistently. With that artistic goal, I am not sure what new he might have said with the portraits that would still be new to our eyes?

Yes. I think Karsh portrayed what Karsh wanted to portray. Look at the famous Hemingway portrait.

[Karl Henning]

Other Karsh portraits...

   

     

       

   

   

   

   

Quite a few of these I saw while they were a special exhibit here at the MFA.  Beautiful portraiture, exquisite eye for the B/W medium.

[Karl Henning]

Remarkable series of portraits. Audrey actually looks rather unattractive there.

I'd say vulnerable rather than unattractive.  (But then, I'd also call the Mennin Eighth stunning rather than awful    )  Whether she was actually self-conscious about it or not, there is an amusing exchange between her & Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon, in which she inventories her physical "imperfections," including "... my neck's too long ...."

[North Star]

I'd say vulnerable rather than unattractive.  (But then, I'd also call the Mennin Eighth stunning rather than awful    )  Whether she was actually self-conscious about it or not, there is an amusing exchange between her & Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon, in which she inventories her physical "imperfections," including "... my neck's too long ...."

There's also the composition's emphasis of some features to a degree that isn't necessarily attractive.

Quite a few of these I saw while they were a special exhibit here at the MFA.  Beautiful portraiture, exquisite eye for the B/W medium.

Absolutely, although I fancy that colour versions of the photographs would work, too - to the extent that colour works in portraits, anyway.

Yes. I think Karsh portrayed what Karsh wanted to portray. Look at the famous Hemingway portrait.

But Karsh certainly didn't portray something that wasn't there in the man.

[Karl Henning]

There's also the composition's emphasis of some features to a degree that isn't necessarily attractive.

Aye; and since the subject had ample glamor photography in her life, I am struck at the more candid tone of this portrait. (Is any portrait candid? 0:) )

[Ken B]

b]Karsh[/b] certainly didn't portray something that wasn't there in the man.

Agreed. I'm agreeing with you, and disagreeing with Gordo. He said the portraits only present what the sitter chose. I think they show what Karsh chose to bring out.

[Karl Henning]

The Old Man and the Sweater

[North Star]

Agreed. I'm agreeing with you, and disagreeing with Gordo. He said the portraits only present what the sitter chose. I think they show what Karsh chose to bring out.

Good. 

The Old Man and the Sweater

Hah!

Seeing that I had the Tippet's book at an arm and a leg's reach:

After Karsh's portrait of Einstein appeared in publications and exhibitions around the world, future clients, notably Ernest Hemingway, also wanted to wear a sweater for their portrait. When Karsh arrived in Cuba in 1957 to photograph Hemingway, he had expected "to meet the author, the rugged hero of his novels." And when Hemingway asked Karsh what he wanted to drink, Karsh ignored the fact that it was 9 a.m. and, thinking that he would please his subject, answered "Daiquiri, Sir," to which Hemingway replied, "Good God, Karsh, at this hour of the day?" To Karsh's surprise, Hemingway also told him, "I don't drink while I write, for you cannot write serious stuff and drink." The man whom Karsh encountered exhibited a "peculiar gentleness" which led Karsh to call Hemingway "the shyest man I ever photographed."  Shy Hemingway might have been, but as Karsh's portrait of the author's line-worn face also revealed, he was "a man cruelly battered by life but seemingly invicible" -- or almost so, because four years later he would take his own life.

[Karl Henning]

I don't drink while I write, for you cannot write serious stuff and drink.

But — and let us consider this an abstract hypothesis — what if what is written reads as if the author had been drinking while writing it?  0:)

[North Star]

But — and let us consider this an abstract hypothesis — what if what is written reads as if the author had been drinking while writing it?  0:)

Is it serious stuff then, though?

[ibanezmonster]

I'm getting better at drawing anime eyes... and also much better at figure drawing, though that still will be a ton of work.



Discovered Paint Tool Sai today, and wow, so much better than Photoshop for drawing and coloring.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

I really like this photo of Biden in today's WSJ in which he seems earnestly to be contemplating a path straight through a blurry, motley crowd of voters : to run or not to run, that is his question...

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

I'm getting better at drawing anime eyes... and also much better at figure drawing, though that still will be a ton of work.

Keep at it - these are cool!