A Definitive Image
Yousuf Karsh’s photograph is perhaps the definitive image of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Karsh had only moments to shoot the portrait in the Speaker’s Office after Churchill’s speech to the Canadian House of Commons on Dec. 30, 1941. A paper copy of the speech might be peeking out of Churchill’s left pocket, below his hand rested on hip. His other hand grips a chair, and an equator of watch chain crosses his belly. That Churchillian glower is, reportedly, the result of Karsh having plucked the Second World War leader’s omnipresent cigar from his mouth.
The print was produced in 1987, and gifted to Parliament by Karsh, who died in 2002.