Winston Churchill
/Yousuf Karsh
1941
Armenian-Canadian, 1908-2002
Gelatin silver print
Gift of the Estate of David P. Hauseman
Polk Museum of Art Permanent Collection 2013.3.1
“You have two minutes,” barked British Prime Minister Winston Churchill “And that’s it, two minutes.”
You can just feel the tension in this room. What can we learn or detect about Churchill from his demeaner? Were you to insert a cartoon “thought bubble” over his head, what would he be thinking to himself but not saying aloud? For that matter, what might he be saying aloud? Can you even begin to dream up the frigid conversation between sitter and photographer? Now’s your chance to set your imagination free, as you step into the shoes of the photographer, Karsh, as he is confronted with the brusque British Prime Minister, photographed here in the midst of the Second World War. What happened just prior to Karsh’s snapping this photograph and what transpired just after?