KARSH PORTRAITS

$24.93

KARSH
PORTRAITS
Yousuf Karsh

48 gravure
Karsh

if

is

K^

jre,

.^

-.

v^"

odist of the carriP'.,

uit

To be phof j.ophed

s great.

.^i

J sign of personol c"' ^.nplishment for

Durinr. -

rury.
..,

p^'

classic

3pher of the

illustratioi

^. M

,,,rie

camera

his

Of gettably recorded

the

lens has

illuminat-

the unique attitude, the moment's reflection,

definitive picture of

one celebrated person-

r another.

one volume are

in

memorable por-

forty-eight

im the Karsh portfolio. They form

rtion of

private thoughts.
ities

of greatness that

igway, an

make a

new views

also are

of

if

new

recent portraits of other

reflect the

pxDrtraits

seventies-Muhammad

the

narles,

o book by

in

rapidly changing
Fidel

Ali,

Norman

Jacques Cousteau,

okov-and

or a

generation,

full

never before published together

he

a Shaw,

Sibelius,

Henry Moore, Marshall

and Pablo Picasso and

1,

Churchill,

a Casals, a

Einstein,

are not eclipsed even within a

:er

an imposing

who have shaped our public

Some of the faces are familiar:

the figures

Castro,

Mailer, Vladi-

Karsh's continuing interest

in

the ad-

medical science: Hans Selye and Helen Taussig.

)roduce with

fidelity the velvety

and brilliant

blacks

of Karsh's original mat-finish prints, this

sheet-fed gravure

's

and

the finest

Each portrait

Carsh's recollections of the

aporf

The

and

book

printing crafts-

are world-famous because he has

portraits

iterest in his subjects.

taken.

in

result

is

a record

technical

skill.

is

accompa-

moments when

the pic-

of extraordinary per-

Many

of these

images

jre-as great portraits and remarkable photoAs a reviewer has said of Karsh's work: "He makes
hat others only sense,- he

makes

pictorial

what

only a mood."

Jacket illustrations:
Front:

Jacques Cousteau, Ernest Henningway

Back: Fidel Castro, Vladimir

Nabokov

"" YORK GRAPHIC SOCIETY

ir,

"on

02108

to

KARSH Portraits
YousufKarsh

NEW YORK GRAPHIC

SOCIETY

BOSTON

(0 University of Toronto Press 1976

All rights reserved.

No

part

of this book may be reproduced

in

any form or by any electronic or

mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission
in

who may

writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer

First

published in Canada by University of Toronto Press

First

United States edition 1976

New

York Graphic Society books

are published

Printed in Switzerland by Roto-Sadag

by

Little,

s.a.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Karsh, Yousuf, 1908-

Karsh
I.

portraits.

Photography -

Portraits,

TR681.F2K38
ISBN 0-8212-0606-0

i.

Title.

779'.2'o924

76-15893

quote brief passages

Brown and Company.

in a

review.

To

my

wife, Estrellita

Contents

INTRODUCTION,

ALDRIN, ARMSTRONG & COLLINS: THE CREW OF APOLLO

MUHAMMAD

ALI, I7

MARIAN ANDERSON,
JOAN BAEZ, 25
PABLO CASALS,

29

FIDEL CASTRO,

33

MARC CHAGALL,
H.R.H.

THE

21

37

PRINCE CHARLES, THE PRINCE OF WALES,

RT.

XI,

HON. SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL,

K.G.,

4I

P.C.,

O.M., C.H., 45

JACQUES COUSTEAU, 49
MICHAEL E. DEBAKEY, 53
ALBERT EINSTEIN,

ROBERT FROST,

$7

61

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI,

65

MARTHA GRAHAM, 69
ERNEST HEMINGWAY, 73
AUGUSTUS JOHN, O.M., 77
HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN
YASUNARI KAWABATA,
HELEN KELLER,

XXIII,

8I

85

89

JOHNFITZGERALDKENNEDY,

93

NIKITA SERGEYEVICH KHRUSHCHEV,

MARTIN LUTHER
ROPPEITA KIT

A,

G, J R.,

97

lOI

IO5

JACQUES LIPCHITZ,

IO9

NORMAN MAILER, II3

GIACOMO MANZU, II7
MARCEL MARCEAU, 121
WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM,

C.H.,

I25

R A

(^:

A U R

I2y

A C,

MARSHALL MCLUHAN,

C.C,

33

JOAN M R 6, 137
HENRY M O O R O.M., C.H., I4I
VLADIMIR NABOKOV, I45
I

F.,

GEORGIA

o'k

ROBERT

P P E

I49

H E F F E,

N H

PABLO PICASSO,

E R,

RAVI

53

157

JEAN-PAUL RIOPELLE,
ALBERT SCHWEITZER,
HANS SELYE,

C.C, 16I
1

65

C.C, 169

H A N K A

R,

I73

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW,

JEAN JULIUS SIBELIUS,

EDWARD STEICHEN,

l8l

185

JOHN ERNST STEINBECK,

IGOR STRAVINSKY,

HELEN TAUSSIG,

I77

I93

I97

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS,

201

89

Introduction

This

new volume

the fourth in an informal series

is

publication of Porfra(f5 oj Greatness.

still

which began

recall the thrill

in 1959 with the

with which I held my

life. My friend Marsh Jeanneret,

was one of the first to understand
superb quality reproduction, and he had spared no effort to ensure

copy of that book;

first

can

it

was

landmark

in

my

the Director of the University of Toronto Press,

my

desire for

Through

the highest possible artistic standards.

graphs - which

my

there.

had hitherto thought impossible - had been achieved. The

moulded by

are

original photofine

speaking message of the eyes, the subtle nuances of light and shadow

details, the

which

and the

skilled craftsmanship

refined technology of sheet-fed gravure, amazing fidelity to

the incorporeal character beneath the skin: they

My message came through as

intended

might say about radio communication

photographs

many

thousands of people

in space.
all

were

all

'loud and clear' as the astronauts

it,

To my

great joy, through

my

over the world have since been intro-

duced to some of the outstanding personalities of our time.

I have been asked whether I feel there are as many great men and women to
photograph today as in the past - whether the strengths of a Churchill or Sibelius
are still to be found in an era of anti-heroes. When my portrait of Winston

me on my

Churchill in 1941 started

search for greatness,

had the legacy of half a

century to draw upon. During the war, in one brief period in England alone,

photographed 42 leaders of international

of George Bernard

stature; the portrait

Shaw dates from that time. After the war, there was no lack of great personalities
whose reputation extended back for decades. I wonder whether now a similar
number exists. In any case, I feel that no collection of my portraits would be complete without some of that rich earlier human endowment - an Einstein, a
Schweitzer, a Casals - old and eternal friends. But I feel the past has no claim on
greatness. The great are always among us. Nor can we yet judge what lessons
remain to be learned from the young, from the proud aggressiveness of Muhammad Ali, or from Joan Baez, symbol of the restless sixties, or from the frank openness of the Prince of Wales, who is aware of monarchy as a source of stability in
changing times.

The

power.'
life's

know

It IS

work

a part

of the elusive

to try to capture this

often, to ourselves

may

scious gesture, a raised

moment
a

more

my

to record.

lift

lies in

what

have called their 'inward

secret that hides in every one,

on

film.

The mask we

a surprised response, a

this artistic

encounter the

it

has been

my

power

in

an uncon-

moment of repose. This is the

viewer, I hope, may be given
Hemingway,

or Helen

Joan Miro.

quest

now

has stretched over half a lifetime.

the compelling desire to capture

perfection

and

present to others and, too

for only a second - to reveal that

brow,

From

quest continues without interruption.

me

intimate glimpse of another dimension of an Ernest

Keller, or

My

only that

fascination of these people for

knowing

when something

it

have driven

to be unattainable.

close to

heart, adventurous,

it

my

ideal has

My

me

The search for greatness and

work harder - to strive for

to

quest has brought

been attained.

It

growing perhaps and forever seeking.

has kept

me great joy,
me young in

Acknowledgement

is

made of courteous permission

for quotation of passages

Georgia' " by Anita Pollitzcr, in Saturday Review of Literature, xxxili

Copyright 1950 The Saturday Review Associates,

10

Inc.

from

(November

" 'That's
4,

1950)-

Karsh

Portraits

Aldrifiy

Armstrong

&

Collins

THE CREW OF APOLLO

The crew of the

Edwin E Aldrin,

XI

made the first manned landing on the moon.

was born in Montclair, N.j., in 1930, trained as a pilot in
the U.S. Air Force, and served in Korea and Germany; studied astronautics at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; participated in the Gemini ix and xii
missions; served as backup command module pilot for the Apollo xi mission, was
later involved with advanced planning of missions for n A s A, and then appointed
head of the aerospace research pilots' school, Edwards Air Force Base. Neil A.
Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, in 1930, received his pilot's license
on his sixteenth birthday, served in Korea as a naval aviator before joining N A s a
as a civilian research pilot; at 10.56 p.m. e d t, July 20, 1969, became the first man
to set foot on the moon; in 1970, appointed Deputy Associate Administrator of
Aeronautics for n a s a in Washington. Michael Collins, born in Italy in 1930,
spaceship that
Jr.,

attended the U.S. Military

officer in the

command

Academy and

U.S. Air Force; took part

pilot

of the Apollo xi

flight;

in

served as an experimental flight

test

Gemini vii and x missions; was

1970, became Assistant Secretary for

in

Public Affairs, Department of State.

13

first men to set foot on the moon were still resting from their historic space
voyage when photographed them at the N A s A Manned Spacecraft Center in
Texas. They had spent the preceding three weeks in quarantine, as a precaution
against any lunar organisms they might have carried back to earth. Now they
were in high spirits. Remembering the cautionary signs which had surrounded

The

them, they playfully posted one outside

Contamination.'
in

Houston

to

~ The day

watch our

my

temporary studio: 'Karsh.

photographed them,

friend, Dr.

my

wife and

had

No

risen early

Michael E. DeBakey, perform open-heart

surgery on a twelve-year-old boy - a 'blue baby operation.'

We had stood by his

room, completely involved and oblivious of time, until the

final suture was in place and the boy's previously blue skin colour turned a healthy
pink as blood coursed through his newly-widened heart valves. It was a profound
religious experience. During the one-and-a-half hour drive to the n A s A installation, neither of us spoke, we were so emotionally drained. '^ On arrival at N A S A
took Neil Armstrong immediately into the astronaut
later than scheduled,
library which served as my studio. My wife meanwhile described in detail the
side in the operating

open-heart operation to

Edwin

'I5uzz' Aldrin.

He

listened intently. Aldrin

is

mind as finehoned as a surgeon's scalpel. Finally, he inquired, 'Do you think Dr. DeBakey
would ever let me watch an operation?' The surgeon would feel honoured to be
asked, Estrellita replied: John Glenn and Frank Borman had already observed
remarkable man, blond formality on the outside and underneath

many

operations. At this point the three astronauts were the idols of an increduworld - no request seemed impossible to grant. Aldrin paused for a moment.
Then he remarked thoughtfully, 'You know, it's a strange thing. I knew that the

lous

moon opened

to me. I'm just beginning to reahse

now

that the earth

is

opening,

Armstrong invited us to lunch. He looks very much

the boy from small-town Ohio, as American as apple pie, with a frank, open,
lopsided grin - but he has a streak of mysticism and a concentrated drive that made
the years of training and sacrifice for the moon-shot possible. The following week
the Apollo XI crew were to begin their first goodwill world tour. During lunch,

too!' '^ That afternoon, Neil

he kept asking, 'Tell me all about England. Tell me all about France - about
Italy - about Africa - about Russia.' Finally we said, 'But you have just been to

Why

you so interested in these mundane places?' Armstrong fixed

on us and explained^ 'To tell you the truth, that is the only
place I've been to!' -^ Michael Collins' early years in a European diplomatic
environment had given him an easy social grace and presence. I sensed that, for
him, life was more than Apollo. ~ After this photograph was made, Collins
took a long relief map of the moon and, with mock solemnity, and an exaggerated
flourish of his pen, inscribed one of the yet-unnamed craters as 'Karsh Crater.'
Later, Armstrong sent us a print of the famous photograph that showed his boot
and his footstep in the moondust. On it he wrote: 'That's one small step for a man;
one giant leap for mankind,' his first words on the moon, and added, 'with the
the

moon!

are

his searching eyes

best wishes

14

of the photographer.'

MICHAEL COLLINS, EDWIN BUZZ ALDRIN, NEIL

A.

ARMSTRONG

-*.,

Muhammad Ali

Born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, 1942. In i960, won the Olympic Gold
Medal for heavyweight boxing in Rome; later that year turned professional.
Defeated Sonny Liston in 1964 to win the World Heavyweight Title; immediately
afterwards announced he had joined the Nation of Islam ('Black Muslims'). The
following year the World Boxing Association rescinded his boxing license. In
1966 announced that he had 'no quarrel with the Viet Cong' and, when called for
induction under the draft on April 28, 1967, refused to join the U.S. Army. As a
result, lost his New York State boxing license and was sentenced to five years in
jail. In 1970 the sentence was reversed and he received his first state boxing license,
to fight in Atlanta. Subsequently he fought Joe Frazier in two highly publicized
bouts, losing the first but winning the second; and on October 30, 1974, he
knocked out George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, to regain the world heavyweight
championship - retaining

it

the next year against Frazier in Manila.

17

Probably no other person

have photographed has been subjected to so

years of such open hatred as

Muhammad Ah

many

was bom bbck

one of his weap-

- hatred because he

American South; hatred because of the arrogance which is

was uiufraid to take unpopular stands for his new religion
hatred
because, in spite o{ all this, he remained the fastestor against a war; and
moving, as well as the fastest-talking, heavyweight boxer m histor)'. ^ I photographed him in 1970, as part of a scries of young people for Look magazine. For
in the

ons; hatred because he

from the only profession he knew because he

three years he had been prohibited

had decbred
U.S. Army.

got no quarrel with the Viet Cong* and refused to join the

ain't

*I

He had been ahead of his

cans were questioning the

war

in

By

time.

Viemam. and

we met more Amen-

the time

things were beginning to break for

him. Soon he would be bo.xing again. In the meantime,

whde he

appealed his

was making a hvmg by public lectures, by making commercials, even

bv plaving in a Broadway musical. Through it all, he never lost his compassion

sentence, he

for the poor, his love for children,

his supporters,

and

.Much of his success he credits to

met

1964

in

his pride in his race. In turn,

when

the

his

manager, Herbert .Muhammad,

new world hea\yweight champion wanted

of himself and went to .Muhammad, then

lished instant rapport. This

with him.

session

he never

lost

who cheered him while others poured out venom and death threats.

-^

took

photographer

as a possible

Muhammad Ah

in

whom he

pictures taken

Chicago. They estab-

for my own portrait

my New York studio with a

good omen

arrived at

young editor trailing behind. They had jogged together from the Look
young editor carrying All's hea\-\- portable telephone which Ah said
kept him in 'constant contact with the world.' Smce the editor was a slight young
man. I smiled to myself as I envisioned this improbable duo and the incredulous
stares of the passers-by as they made their way up .Madison Avenue. -^ 'The
Greatest' and I talked about his triumphs, about patent medicine, about the commercials he was making, but there was for me no real contact. The pinstriped suit
he wore for our sitting was chosen not for business but to command the respect he
rightly felt he deser\-ed. Behind his movements lurked suspicion and anger, and a
breathless

the

orfices.

waiting for recognition.

ling autobiography,

get used to me.

yours;
I

my

wont

18

let

goals

vou

'I

He seemed

am

to be saying, as he vsTOte later in his

compel-

America. Only, I'm the part you won't recognize. But

Bbck. confident, cocky;

my own -

get used to

my

me

name, not yours;

can make

it

my

rehgion. not

without your approval!

beat me!'

-M

UHA

.M .M

.\D

.\

P*^'*!!^

\.

yira

17:* V

Marian Anderson

One of the

world's leading contraltos. She was born in Philadelphia and

sang in her Baptist church choir.

fund raised through

as a child

church concert enabled

her to take singing lessons under an Italian teacher. In 1925 came public recognition

of her talent, when out of 300 she won first prize in a competition in New York.
During the next forty years she made many concert tours in the United States and
Europe. She gave her farewell concert at Carnegie Hall, New York, in April, 1965.
Appointed member of the United States delegation to the United Nations and a
member of the U.N. Trusteeship Committee, 1958. U.S. Presidential Medal of

Freedom, 1962.

21

The world knows

through

it

the voice of

Marian Anderson.

It

has enriched our music, and

has been niade eloquent the long tragedy of the

Negro

race

and her

own triumph over it. -^ This realization is for all who hear and see her. What
struck me most, however, when photographed her at her home in Connecticut
I

was her simplicity and peacefulness. With her, I was convinced, the
harmony of music came from the harmony of her being. The Negro spirituals
which have deeply moved us all are not merely the result of a glorious voice and
long technical training; they utter her own nature. ~ My problem was to capture
in 1945,

and

register this quality - not an easy

problem even when she

None of my

gestions with almost childlike obedience.

the

least.

All of them,

felt,

had missed the intangible target.

Then, towards the conclusion of the

in for a rehearsal. This

fell in

seemed to be

sitting.

with

my

early shots satisfied

sug-

me

in

began to despair.

Miss Anderson's accompanist came

my chance.

asked him, in

whisper, to play

very softly the accompaniment to 'The Crucifixion,' one of the singer's favourite
compositions.
Hurriedly,
that

it

Unaware of

my

innocent

snapped the camera.

contained what

little

When

plot, she

my own

had seen with

began to

hum

to herself.

developed and printed the film

eyes. This

is

felt

the portrait of a

Later, this picture was

harmonious soul revealing itself unconsciously in song.
in
York.
man who saw it there
Modern
Art
New
A
Museum
of
exhibited at the
told me afterwards that it had brought tears to his eyes because he remembered
his own moving experience with Miss Anderson. He had been one of eleven

people invited to her birthday party

at

her home, 'Mariana Farm,' in Connecticut.

Before the guests partook of a light meal, her mother suggested to Miss Anderson
that she sing 'The Lord's Prayer.'

explained.
listeners.

'^

She speaks to

22

'We always say

As the daughter sang grace

could understand
us,

above the

that

this after

clash

of race,

grace before a meal,' the mother

day there were few dry eyes among her

had studied the Negro singer for myself.

in the language of all humanity.

MARIANANDERSON

'

\_.-><^

'

"'itV-i^l

-Vr'i-

'

T-,

Joan Baez

Folk singer and recording

artist.

Born

1941.

Made

modest

start

singing in coffee

Newport (Rhode
non-violent protest against war and

houses in Boston. Her international reputation dates from the

Island)

Folk Festival in 1959.

injustice,

and

is

Carmel Valley.

Is

active in

vice-president of the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence,

In 1968 she published an autobiographical

volume, Daybreak.

25

This gifted young American folk singer had edipsed her original early fame
long-haired

young

married with

David

who was

Harris,

exchanged

child, awaiting the release

serving a sentence for draft resistance. She had cheerfully

of luxury for her husband's modest

a life

was student

of

unrest, with the possibility

riots,

a blutf

near Palo

on the Stanford University

campus. That morning, and the previous one, she had

and spent hours

risen early

Stanford trying to calm tempers and keep the situation from exploding; the

students loved and respected her; her

is

home on

~ The day of our photographic session proved a difficult one for her. There

Alto.

at

as a

met her in 1970. She was

from prison of her husband,

of the coffee houses by the time

artist

herself a protester against injustice

first

words did much to

and war, but

met, she looked exceedingly tired.

angry students had taken their

would you
she was sound

toll.

Offering

me

have

'Mr. Karsh,

please let

knew

asleep, curled

it,

Only then did

emotionally.

fully realise

While she

how

slept,

shower

am

up

When we

exacting and anxious hours with the

me a glass of wine, she asked wistfully,

a little rest before we start?' IJefore

like a child in a

went

massive leather chair.

walk in that happy location overawakened she announced brightly,

for a

as she

ready for the photograph.' 'No, no,'

first, refresh yourself; let us listen to

down

Joan Baez

exhausted and drained she was, physically and

looking San Francisco Bay. As soon

'Now

The

restore reason.

a non-violent one. ^^

replied, 'not yet.

some music and

let

You

us talk.

have to

Then

we

from a flowering
can settle
bush outside her house and brought it for her to hold; it complemented the mood
of serenity which enveloped her. felt she found the inner strength to carry on
from her firm conviction that what her husband was doing was right. Between
to photography.'

picked a cluster of

lilac

breaks, and during photography, she cuddled her infant son and sang to him.

While we were working

she played her records, so that her child

to hear his mother's voice.

most

natural. -^

Of all the performers

would continue

have photographed, she was the

photographed her and several other members of the youthful

counter-establishment for Look magazine.

Among these under-thirty personalities,

was re-affirmed to me that people of achievement can be of any age. While they
were young in years, there was about each a deep sense of responsibility and
concern and response to the world which no longer fit the old stereotype of youthit

fulness.

2(5

O A N

B A

F.

/'..'.'"

:>,

Pahlo Casals

Celebrated violoncellist, composer, and conductor. Born in Catalonia, Spain, in

1876; died in Puerto Rico in 1973. Educated at the Municipal School of Music,
Barcelona, and the Madrid Conservatoire.

conductor of the Pau Casals

Symphony

Made

In 1940 he left Spain in protest against the Franco

at

his

debut

in

England

in 1898;

Orchestra in Barcelona which he founded.

regime and shortly

after settled

Prades on the French side of the Pyrenees; in 1950 founded there an annual

Music Festival attended by many famous musicians. In 1956 he moved to San Juan,
Puerto Rico, where he inaugurated a second annual Casals Festival of Music. (This
portrait

was awarded

Gold Medal by the Union of Polish Art Photographers

in

1966.)

29

As

drove along the dusty road to Prades

pilgrimage bent.

Pablo Casals.

more

sensitive

le

was going

to

meet

did not disappoint me.

human

benig. -^

We

in 1954,

had the feehng that

that great self-exile

I

and patron

had never photographed

decided to take the portraits

in

was on

of music,

saint

warmer or
two sessions

and against two different backgrounds. The second day we moved to the old
Abbey of St. Michel de Cuxa. Though partially restored, it was empty and dark.

One

electric light

enough current

down

bulb was the only illumination available but happily

for

my

strobe lights.

No

secured

need to pose Casals. Once he had

immediate surroundings seemed to fade from

sat

consciousness. Soon the old abbey was throbbing with the music only he could play
with

his cello, the

music of an almost unearthly quality

talk or

move

dismal chamber.

rough

look of a prison,

stones, a

hardly dared to

And then, as watched the

small window high above him

for fear of breaking the spell.

figure crouched against the

this scene the

in this

his

lonely

giving

suddenly decided on an unusual experiment.

would record, if I could, my own vivid

impression of the voluntary prisoner who, on the surge of his music, had escaped
not only the prison but the world. The portrait printed here perhaps suggests the
immense strength, intellectual, physical and spiritual, flowing from this amazing
would photograph

old man.

^-^

After the sitting

exceedingly small

me

the musician's back.

home

gently returned Casals, his cello and his chair, to his

(really the porter's

into his study for sherry

frailty in his eightieth year.

lodge of an

estate)

where he invited
he had only one

and

biscuits.

The

sun, or strong light, he said, gave

So

far as

could

see,

him

headaches, and he never went about without his faded red umbrella.

him

to

name

asked

the great living composers. 'Very difficult to say,' he replied, 'for

perhaps Bloch, Enesco and Salazar.'

to

terrible

come rank with

don't believe there

Would any contemporary composer

the classical figures of music?

is

'I

don't know,' he

such a genius alive today. For me,

classical

me

in years

said, 'but

music

is

to be

felt, recognized and loved. Modern music has turned towards nonThough they have a natural understanding of music, the moderns reject the
classical approach as pompous and irrelevant to our time. I hope music will become
music again as it has been for centuries from Palestrina to Faure, Ravel and

adopted,
music.

Debussy.'

~ We toasted each other's health in a

with profound sadness and yet

until

30

my

car

elation.

had disappeared from

The

last glass

old

of sherry and

man waved from

the

departed,

window

sight.

PABLOCASALS

'^'Viif-

Fidel Castro

Born 1926 on
a Spanish
in

a sugar plantation near Biran in

immigrant farm labourer

law from the University of Havana

Raul and

Oriente Province, Cuba, the son of

who became
in 1950.

wealthy landowner. Graduated

On July 26,

handful of men, he attacked the fortress of

1953, with his brother

Moncado

in

an attempt to

Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The raid failed, Castro was put on trial,
and despite a now-famous argument against oppression, 'History Will Absolve
oust the

Me,' was sentenced to 15 years in jail. Released under an amnesty

making new plans. His first expedition in December 1956 was

and

a small

band found refuge

and engaged
Castro was

in the Sierra

in successful guerrilla warfare.

named prime

minister. His

in 1955,

he began

shattered, but he

Maestra country, gathered strength,

On January

i,

1959, Batista fled

and

government, despite grave economic and

international problems, has elfected land reform and developed educational and

other social programs.

33

Havana on

arrived in

that

most important of

26th of July - the anniversary of Fidel Castro's

Hatista.

had come,

at his

modern

its

first

national holidays, the

onslaught against the dictator

ambassador's invitation and with the friendly encourage-

ment of the Canadian government,

to

photograph the

man who had

first

the world's imagination as a fugitive in the Sierra Maestra mountains,

caught

and

who

had since transformed the Cuban economy. But first I was to hear him speak.
Our plane from Mexico City touched down only a few hours before Fidel was to

make a major address in the capital's main square. I was greeted at the airport by
two officials of the Protocol Office who first took me to a hotel to rest briefly, and
then to the plaza. Our automobile, an Alfa Romeo, had security clearance that
carried us past guards

and through the tens of thousands wating for the speech.

all over Cuba; the people were young and enthusiastic,

The crowd had come from

and there was an
cream.

dressed in
hair.

army

^ Fidel

solidarity

On

support.

customary

six

new

his thick black

magnetic speaker, dedicated to the point of fanaticism,

thought with his finger, building to crescendos as he lauded

and attacked imperialism,

this

Cuban ice
He was

selling the delicious

Castro appeared on the podium.

with the ever-present cap on

fatigues, as usual,

proved

punctuating every

Cuban
its

of carnival, heightened by stands

air

^ Without ceremony, abruptly,

until the

crowd

yelled and screamed

day, he spoke for only two-and-a-half hours instead of the

- a rather short speech for him. There were

many

foreigners present

wander at will in an open space at the foot of the

who, like me, were
podium, not more than fifteen feet from the speaker. -^ The next day I was invited
to tour Havana and its surroundings. My companion was none other than Seiiora
Celia Sanchez, the wiry, energetic Secretary of State and one of the most powerful
free to

we

people in Cuba. At the end of our tour,

for photography.

chose

walls so stark as to suggest a barracks.

set

two

or three possible places

turned out to be Castro's

It

up my equipment and went home

staying as a guest of the Ambassador,

when

inspected

simple ceremonial room, with a few bookshelves, and

to the

own

office.

Canadian Embassy where

was

Kenneth Brown. And then I waited to learn

They were pleasant enough: the weather

Castro would see me. Days passed.

was wonderful, and I was

with sad

faces, or

once a week, and

free to explore

with unhealthy,

where I wished. Nowhere did I see people

But planes then left Cuba only

ill-fed bodies.

my time for departure was fast approaching. ^ On the last day,

when would the Prime Minister be free?

was not eased by the ill-mannered habits of the embassy phone,
which periodically went out of order. Not until after six o'clock that last evening
Castro arrived in
did word come that two cars were on their way to fetch me.
the room we had chosen, quietly, graciously, but looking grave and tired. He is
taller than appears from photographs. He shook my hand, and immediately reI

phoned

My

the Protocol Office every hour:

frustration

moved
keeping

the belt and pistol

me

which

is

part of his uniform.

waiting so long; he had had

many

vious days of the anniversary celebrations.

guests

^ As

Then he apologized

for

and duties during the pre-

readied the camera,

suggested

moments together.
Tm sorry, I cannot,' he replied charmingly. 'I am not a good enough actor. I
cannot play myself ^ Our session lasted three-and-a-half hours. From time to
time we would stop to refresh ourselves with Cuban rum and coke. ^ 'Tell me,'
he said, 'about photographing Helen Keller.' Then he asked about Shaw,
Churchill, Camus, Cocteau, and mostly about Hemingway, whose home near
that to start he

Havana

room

34

is

might

a shrine.

try to recapture the

was impressed

in his life for these creative

moods of our

that Castro

first

a revolutionary

- should have

humanitarians.

FIDELCASTRO

^-^4

>.

Marc Chagall

known for the fanciful, dream-like images of his paintings. Born in

1887 in Vitebsk, Russia, and grew up in a Hasidic Jewish community. Went to
Paris to study in 19 10 and since then, apart from eight years back in Russia and

Artist, best

seven in the United States, has lived in France.

costumes and decor for

completed

new

ballet

and

Works

theatre, ceramics

ceiling for the Paris Opera. His

include engravings, murals,

and stained

home

is

at

glass. In 1964 he
Vence, northwest of

Nice.

37

when

a Parisian

concierge speaks well of

a tenant,

it

is

an event worth noting.

The middle-aged woman who opened the street door of Marc Chagall's apartment building seemed entirely typical of her much-abused class. asked for the
I

great painter, expecting at best a perfunctory gesture towards his rooms. Instead,

she broke into a

warm

~ Chagall

smile and praise. Obviously she loved him.

lives, when he is in Paris, in a romantic old building on the Left Bank, overlooking
the Seine. His studio is on the third floor; the steps to it are worn, and there are

in a niche on the stairwell. The studio was neat, almost comAlong one wall stood a screen on which he had painted a pair of
-^ Chagall was very affable but it seemed to me that, at times, he was

Gothic madonnas
pulsively so.
flying lovers.

playing a role, that of the naive, childlike figure usually portrayed in his public
image. Often he referred to himself in the third person - 'Chagall did this' - as if he
It was not an arrogant way of speaking.
gentle,
yet very strong, personality. ^^ With
and
gave the impression of a soft
where he had been commisAmerica
returned
from
just
he
had
wife, Vava,

were standing

He
his

off"

and looking

at himself.

sioned to paint the murals for the

were

New

in

York,

Czarist Russia,

new Metropolitan Opera House. While

they

on the life of the Jews in

on Broadway. Had he seen it? No,

Fiddler on the Roof, a musical based

was enjoying

many
circumstances of his own
they had refused

a great success

invitations.

early

life

Any

theatrical presentation so close to the

in Vitebsk could be nothing,

he

felt,

but a dread-

ful sham. ~ My assistant at the time was a charming, handsome young Frenchman

named

At one point

Felix Gilbert.

Felix

had to kneel

in front

of Chagall to adjust

the lights and Chagall, very gently, almost in benediction, placed his

hand on the

boy's glorious shock of hair and asked, 'Quel age as-tu?' Felix replied, 'Twentyseven.' 'Oh,' said Chagall, characteristically placing his

hand over

his heart, 'to

be

we heard children coming home from school, and Chagall said,

'You know, when I was a boy in Vitebsk, whenever wanted to laugh my mother
would put her hand over my mouth and say, 'Shah! Shah! Not too loud or they
might come and get you.' could never laugh out loud. Now, when hear children
shouting and happy thank God every day.' He said it without affectation or false
piety: God and he were very good friends who understood each other, two cronies
sitting down and drinking their glasses of tea together. 'I thank God every day

young!' Just then

that

can hear such free laughter and

hand of fear clutching

to

know

at their hearts.'

rejoice that these children

It

was good

that his laughter, as well as his tears, are

to hear

him

do not

laugh.

feel the

And good

permanently recorded on canvas

for later generations to see.

38

MARC CHAGALL

H.R.H. Prince Charles

The Prince oj Wales

41

had not had the pleasure of photographing Prince Charles since he was three
Now, the popular 26-year-old prince was to make an official visit to

years old.

in a tour of the Arctic. This would be an appropriate

photograph
the heir to the throne at Government House in
felt, to
I especially requested that Prince Charles sit for me in an open-necked

Canada, culminating
occasion,

Ottawa.

more formal or ceremonial attire, since he combined the

more relaxed mood of today's youth. When Prince
Charles entered the room, where hung the oil portraits of his royal ancestors, my
first impression was of an attractive, seemingly unassuming young man - but with
an unmistakable presence. I found him an easy conversationalist, with a good
sense of humour, and an unfeigned interest in others. ~ I reminded him of our
rather than in

shirt,

age-old tradition with the

last

photographic

which

session, for

had prepared myself by bringing toys to

present to him. That day Prince Charles hadjust been brought in

buttonhole of his

in the

like

little

from

the garden;

jacket a daisy perched jauntily. As he saw the toys,

any eager small boy, he reached out with his left hand. But before his fingers
on the toy, with his right hand - unlike any other small boy - the royal

closed
child

removed

the daisy

taneous formal exchange.

from

it toward me - a sponreminded him of this charming incident, he

certainly was well trained, wasn't I?' I hope that this

his

buttonhole and thrust

~ When

remarked, tongue-in-cheek,

'I

portrait conveys the directness,

sympathy, and disarming lack of affectation of

His Royal Highness.

42

PRINCE CHARLES

The

Rt.

Hon. Sir Winston Churchill

ICG., P.C, O.M., C.H.

Prime Minister of England 1940-5 and 1951-5, historian and artist. Born
1874;
Duke of Marlborough; son of Lord Randolph Churchill. His
mother, Jennie Jerome, was American, and in 1963 he was made an honorary
U.S. citizen by Act of Congress. Educated at Harrow and Sandhurst. Went into

descendant of the

the
in

Army

1900

as

Boer War and in World War i. Entered Parliament

Conservative; belonged to Liberal party, 1906-24, then rejoined Con-

in 1895, served in

servatives. Member of the House from 1900 and holder of many ministerial posts.
Fiercely opposed Conservative Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of

appeasement towards Nazi Germany.

appeared on stamps of six nations.

He

died in 1965. This photograph has

45

As a private citizen I approached Winston Churchill in 1941 with awe. He was

more than the Great Man of the twentieth century; he was even more than an
institution.

history.
fast.

He had become, and

But

~ Mr.

as a

photographer

will always remain, a gigantic passage in

had

job to be done and

it

had to be done

human
far

too

Churchill, as he was then, had been addressing the Canadian Parlia-

Ottawa on December 30; he was in no mood for portraiture and two

minutes were all he would allow me as he passed from the House of Commons
Chamber to an ante-room - two niggardly mmutes in which I must try to put on

ment

fdm

in

man who had

already written or mspired a library of books, baffled

biographers, filled the world with his fame, and me,

~ He

marched

German enemy.

in scowling,

and regarded

His expression suited

me

my

on

this occasion,

camera

perfectly, if

as

all his

with dread.

he might regard the

could capture

it,

but the

seemed somehow incompatible with such a solemn

and formal occasion. Instinctively I removed the cigar. At this the Churchillian
scowl deepened, the head was thrust forward belligerently, and the hand placed
cigar thrust

between

his teeth

on the hip in an attitude of anger. So he stands in my portrait in what has always

seemed to me the image of England in those years, defiant and unconquerable.
With a swift change of mood, he came towards me when I was finished, extending
his hand and saying, 'Well, you can certainly make a roaring lion stand still to be

photographed.'

45

SIRWINSTONCHURCHILL

M^.'l;'

f>

'',*;-*''

--<

Jacques Cotisteau

Born

1910

in

gunnery

in St.

Andre de Cubzac, France; served

officer. In 1943,

in the

French

he designed the compressed-air aqualung

Navy

as a

in collaboration

with the French engineer Emile Gagnan. With that invention, divers were freed

from the

restrictions

of heavy

suits

and

air

pumps, and intensive exploration of the

underwater world began. Since then Cousteau has been actively engaged
water research and
World, the

television.

spoken

development of new

tools to pursue

it.

in

under-

His floating

well known to milhons who have read his books [The

was a best-seller in 1953) and watched his adventures on
He holds many honours and offices. Most recently he has been an out-

laboratory. Calypso,
Silent

in the

critic

is

first,

of the polluting practices that threaten marine

life.

49

At

his specific request,

photographed that knight of the 20th century, Jacques

I
am,' he said,

Cousteau, with his two sons, Jean-Michel and Phihppe. 'Here

'happy with nay

own

And

sperm.'

indeed, he

was supremely

pleased.

^ 'Karsh,

crew of Apollo
it would be to
wonderful
more
How
much
together.
moon
went
to
the
XI who
photograph a father and two sons on a space mission!' He hoped that the three of
them might some day, in fact, work together on a space platform. But I could not
help reflecting that the undersea world that he had opened for us was as potentially
rich as the vacuum beyond the atmosphere. ^ In his explorations both sons had

he said, 'you have taken a portrait of three relative strangers [the

]

played a vital part - Philippe, the younger, as the principal photographer of

Cousteau's expeditions, Jean-Michel, a distinguished architect in his

own

right, as

Advanced
Monaco. -^ What

designer of several exciting marine projects and of the Center for

Marine Study, home of his

is

father's engineering organization in

the long-term basis for underwater research?

the key to

human

survival.'

But he warned that

asked. Cousteau replied:

man

is

vital resource, for all land pollutants eventually find their

'we

risk

poisoning the sea forever just

philosophy and

how

when we

way

to the oceans

are learning her science, art

to live in her embrace.' In the past

had depleted forty per cent of the

'It

sea's resources,

and,

is

gravely endangering this

twenty
if

years,

he

said,

and

and

man

the trend continued, in

another generation the sea would be dead. Changes for the better were occurring,

enough. ^^ Cousteau said that if he were younger, he would be

The aristocracy, he said, was ignorant of what is going on. The
average person was much more in touch with contemporary events, through the
mass media. ^ The generation gap, he felt, is a healthy and natural thing that has
happened throughout history. 'It shows the vitality of youth. The only thing the
older generation can do about it is accept it.' As for the world's problems, 'All
but not nearly

fast

a revolutionary.

of what

we

think are problems are not really problems. All

we

need are food,

Philippe remarked that his father

and the propagation of our species.'
had always been a philosopher and man of action, but that the philosopher now
Cousteau said, 'The purpose of life is what we make
was coming to the fore.
it ... I live with my frustration and accept the fact that there is no life after death.'
shelter,

But he was not despondent.

to a genius than he

comparing
lowest

all

human

is

of life to
is

^ 'The

lowest

to an amoeba,' he said.
a glass

human being is much, much closer

'When we compare humans, it's like

of beer: the differences between the highest and the

only in the thin ring of foam

at the

top of the

has been on this earth only ten thousand years at most.

twenty-five million years

50

if

he survives that long?

What

glass.

Civilized

man

will he be like after

think he will be fantastic!'

JACQUESCOUSTEAU

Michael E. DcBakey

American surgeon. Performed the

first

implant of an

April 1966. Educated at Tulane University,

Professor of Surgery there. During

New

World War

11

artificial

heart in

man,

Orleans, and later Associate

was Director of the Surgical

in 1946 became U.S.

Consultant Division, Office of the Surgeon-General, and

Army

Surgical Consultant to the Surgeon-General. Since 1948 has been Professor

of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. He is Director of the

Cardiovascular Research Center

sultant surgeon to

many Texas

at the

Methodist Hospital in Houston and con-

hospitals.

Has served on many national advisory

committees and became Chairman of the President's Commission on Heart

Disease, Cancer and Stroke in 1964. Numerous awards and honorary degrees,
including the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.

53

'Photograph

me

at

the hospital - the hospital

is

my

So responded Ur.

life.'

Michael E. DeBakey by telephone from the Methodist Hospital in Houston,

Texas. But

first

came an unexpected opportunity

vascular surgery at work.

wife and

Wrapped

in sterile

to

watch the pioneer of cardio-

green surgical cap and gown,

my

The emergency
technique DeBakey had

stood close beside his elbow in the operating theatre. -^

operation was for an aneurysm of the aorta, a surgical

As we watched, the aneurysm - a bulging, diseased

from the heart - was cut away and replaced
with a nylon implant. ~ Even surrounded by his team of assistants, nurses, and
anaesthesiologists, Dr. DeBakey seemed enclosed in his own circle of self-containment - involved, yet very much alone. In this microcosm of life and death, he
was the undisputed master. His slight, wiry figure dominated the operating room
with enormous power of concentration. '^ His surgical assistant that day was not
attuned to him: there was a slight time lag in response. DeBakey became irritable
and impatient. He used the suction himself. He reached for an instrument from the
pioneered

the mid-fifties.

section of the large artery leading

even bent the retractor to the desired angle,

table nearby; he

urging more perfect co-ordination.

and understood

my

watched entranced

at his

his

every gesture

quest for perfection,

when it was not forthcoming. I turned to

marvellous - so intolerant, so impatient -just like

so well his frustration

wife and whispered, 'He

is

me!' '^ In the midst of his intense concern for his patient, DeBakey turned to us
and asked, 'Are you sure you can see everything? Come closer, I want you to
watch the suturing.' We looked down into the exposed heart as DeBakey stitched
the ends of the patient's aorta onto the nylon implant, ever so delicately, his

moving eloquently with

sensitive fingers

instruments in extending

life.

assured mastery, yet reverently as

-^ This crucial part of the operation over, he

left

the

dynamism kept the tension at the same high

relaxed. '~ The following day, before we began

operating room. For a few seconds his

everyone noticeably

pitch, then

our photographic
fine.

session,

inquired anxiously,

'How

Without the operation, he might have

before his diseased aorta 'blew.'

Now

is

our patient?'

He was doing

lived perhaps twenty-four hours

he could soon resume

normal

life.

^^

As

we worked, we

talked of DeBakey's other interests: music, fine craftsmanship,

photography,

of which, regrettably, he no longer pursues.

all

He

dedicates

all

his

time to the advancement of cardiovascular surgery and research, lecturing, teaching, operating. 'Participation in the exciting
fact,

its

own

reward,' he remarked.

mutual understanding and relaxation

In reply to

'Above
then

rare,

am

sure, in either

of our professional

the

my questions about experimentation

all,

left to

the researcher

must preserve

in medicine. DeBakey reaffirmed,

humane approach to science.' ~ He

catch an afternoon plane to speak in

of his driven,

54

world of inquiry and discovery is, in

together were marked by

Our hours

Golden Rule, which DeBakey thinks especially applicable

medicine: 'A good scientist is, in fact, first a humanist and second a scientist.'

lives.

to

We discussed

ceaseless

New

York, on yet another leg

journey in pursuit of his calling.

MICHAEL

E.

DEBAKEY

^Ki
'

#.

'^'tB*^^

Albert Einstein

and exponent of the theory of relativity. Born in Switzerland

and
in
the
United States in 1955. After holding appointments at the
died
1879
Universities of Zurich and Prague, he v/zs appointed Professor of Physics at Berlin
University and Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm histitute for Physics in 1914; he
Physicist; discoverer
in

citizen. He renounced this citizenship and his appointment in

Europe for the United States, and was made a member for life of the
Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. In 1940 he became an American citizen.
During World War 11 he did research work on explosives for the United States

became

German

1933, left

Navy.

57

Among

the tasks that Hfe as a photographer had set me, a portrait of Albert
seemed a 'must' - not only because this greatest refugee of our

Einstein had always

century has been accounted by

the world as the outstanding scientist since

all

Newton, but because his face, in all its rough grandeur, invited and challenged the
camera. ^ When saw him for the first time at Princeton University's Institute
for Advanced Study, in February 1948, I found exactly what I had expected - a
I

simple, kindly, almost childlike man, too great for any of the tricks or postures of
eminence. Yet one did not have to understand his science to feel at once the power

of

his

mind.

~ Awed
human

views on

before this unique intellect,

He mused

yet ventured to ask Einstein

moment and then replied:

There are two kinds. The first lives in the imagination of people and is thus an illusion. There is a relative immortality which may
conserve the memory of an individual for some generations. But there is only one
true immortality, on a cosmic scale, and that is the immortality of the cosmos itself
There is no other.' -^ He spoke of these ultimate mysteries as calmly as he might
answer a student's question about mathematics - with such an air of quiet conhis

'What

fidence, indeed, that

other views.
violinist,

asked

he

that sense

found

his

answer profoundly disturbing to one

turned the conversation, and knowing

if there

said,

which underlies

him

all

who

held

to be an accomplished

were any connection between music and mathematics.

'and in the higher ranges of science, there

endeavour. There

of harmony.

in either field.'

He

for a

believe of immortality?

'In art,'

immortality.

He who

lacks

is

no true greatness

it

can never be

~ Was he optimistic about the

is

a feeling

of harmony

in art or science

without

more than a great technician

future harmony of mankind itself?

appeared to ponder deeply and remarked in graver tones: 'Optimistic? No.

But if mankind fails to find a harmonious solution then there will be disaster on a
dimension beyond anyone's imagination.' To what source should we look for the
hope of the world's future? 'To ourselves,' said Einstein.
He spoke sadly yet

serenely, as
In this

one

who had

humour my

looked into the universe far past mankind's small affairs.

camera caught him ... the portrait of a man beyond hope or

despair.

58

ALBERT EINSTEIN

Robert Frost

American

when

poet.

Born

in

San Francisco, 1874; died in Boston, 1963. Father died

moved with his mother to New England, the usual

poet was ten and he

background for his poems. Studied at Dartmouth College and Harvard University;
worked as bobbin-boy, editor, farmer, teacher of psychology. Trip to England,
1912, marked beginning of his career as a poet; in 191 3 A Boy's Will was published
in London and hailed by English poets, including Rupert Brooks and Lascelles
Abercrombie. Professor of English at Amherst College, 1916-20, 1923-5, 1926-38,
1949-63; 'poet in residence' at the University of Michigan, 1921-3; Emerson
Fellow

at

Harvard University, 1939-43; Resident Consultant

in

Humanities,

Dartmouth College, 1943-9; appointed Consultant in the Humanities co the

Library of Congress, 1959. Helped to found the Breadloaf School at Middlebury
College, 1920, and returned every

summer

1924, 1931, 1937, 1943. His works include:

Tree, Aforesaid.

President

John

He
F.

recited his

as a lecturer. Pulitzer Prize

A Boy's

poem The

Will, Xorth oJBoston,

winner

in

Witness

Gift Outright at the inauguration

of

Kennedy, January 1961.

61

'Don't

make

they

as he faced my camera in 1958. 'I'm a

from Chicago.' This was my introduction

of me,' said Mr. Frost

a saint

Why,

rascal.

call

me

Scarface Frost

American poet, an old man who did precisely as he pleased.

At the time he was sitting in his littered, chaotic studio at Cambridge, Massachusetts. There he worked at what he was pleased to call his desk - a dilapidated
piece of Ten-Test supported by a piece of string and a battered walking stick. Yet,
I thought, out of all this bedlam comes so much beauty. ~ Some of that native,
homely American candour for which he is famous began to appear as we went
to the crusty, beloved

to

work. His mind moved suddenly from one subject to another

poetry

is

medium

expression of

poems was

it

is

in

long

leaps.

and photography,' he commented, 'may be international but

'Painting, sculpture,

for the nationalists.

nationalistic.

The thought may be

universal, but the

have never seen an instance when one of

translated into a foreign language

my

without losing the idiom of the

Then he remembered that T.S. Eliot had once asked him what he
meant by the expression, 'Good fences make good neighbours.' Although Frost
had not invented that phrase (it was a folk-saying from New England), he was not
surprised that Eliot should object to it. 'Eliot's characters,' Mr. Frost said, 'never
original.'

know

boundaries, not even of each other's beds.' -^

He

recalled his recent visit to

New

York, where he had been taken to the Meditation

Room. The only symbol there was of pure iron - a symbol of man's strength and
the United Nations in

At

unity.

To

trouble

men

said, 'talking

when

it's

He

said

it

He

offset

was

recited

instantly

it

by the

God and
like

fifteen or

other.

You

the devil.'

making

lectures, explaining that

asked

a year.'

...

he would rather

poem

come

to his next lecture in order to ask

all

derisive couplet to

'Those

silly

people

hate.

You

self divides

down

there,'

him about

it

just

his

way of writing

came. 'And,' he added,

Mr. Frost talked

make

he had to say on that subject.

at

he

only value one

always have victory and defeat, good and

every

says

new,

They make me

a witticism

twenty times

sides.'

the time!

all

composed

me: 'Nature within her inmost

to

with having to take

about love

love and hate,

comes

and

this Frost scorted

decorate the shrine.

evil,

poem.

'it

only

length about his

speech than read his poetry;

When

him questions, he

him that I would

'Hmph, you will be

told

said,

the only one that does.'

62

ROBERTFROST

tii^tNfi

Alberto Giacometti

Swiss sculptor, painter, and poet. Born 1901. Studied in Geneva and in

Italy,

then

where by the late 1920s he had become associated with the surmovement. He began to produce the elongated, solitary figures for which

settled in Paris,
realist

he

is

largely

Museum
and

known after an illness in 1945. Works are on exhibition in Baltimore

Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Gallery in London,

of Art,

in principal

figure in

many

museums of modern

private collections.

He

art in France, Switzerland,

and

Italy,

and

died in 1966.

65

My experience with Giacometti began with a surprise.

le

was

asleep

still

when we

arrived at his studio, in a working-class district in Paris, at the agreed-upon hour

in the afternoon.

of three
etti's

The

Diego

since leaving their native Switzerland.

custom-made

who was Giacomsame studio for 38 years,

sculptor and his brother, Diego,

favourite and most constant model, had shared that

still

continued to paint exquisite

lamps for exclusive Parisian interior decorators - a task

also occupied Alberto before his sculpture began to

sell.

which had

know

did not

then that

was Giacometti's usual breakfast hour, and that he usually

I urged him to go to his neighbourhood bistro for
worked through the night.
could have time to set up my equipment in the unbelievably
cortee, so that
cluttered, tiny room which served as his atelier. All around, in semi-darkness and
three in the afternoon

dirt,

were

his characteristic

dominated the room;

many

elongated figures,

they pervaded the atmosphere.

welcome

only a short time before she rushed out to the

me

She told

still

uncast, in clay.

~ My

They

wife could stand

release

of the open

it

air.

afterward that, while she enjoyed Giacometti's attenuated figures in a

of light and space, to experience the sculptures in the crowded

was a far different matter. She felt as if she were in unredeemable hell - that
here was a place without grace, without hope, without humour, without redemption - that she was among the living dead - and she grieved for the tortured
sensibility which had produced this. And what, by some symbolic twist, did she
discover when she was out under the blue sky again? That the building next door
was a clinic for expectant mothers and new babies, so that just two feet away from
Giacometti was still in an uncertain temper
this site of horror was new life.

museum

full

atelier

sit still for a moment; he stamped his foot

smoked constantly. His face was ashen grey and he did
not welcome any conversation which might bring a ray of communicative

when he

returned.

He

could not

impatiently like a child; he

humour
he was

into the afternoon.

My

in excruciating pain. ~'

subsided, he invited

me

experience should have prepared

Soon

after,

to a lengthy visit

Pierre Matisse, the son of the great French

me

to realise

when his spasm of agony somewhat

with him and his New York dealer,

artist.

We stood in the alleyway outside

narrow we could touch both walls of the adjacent

buildings with our fingertips, and reality seemed to right itself again, as we discussed the current art scene. ^-^ That same evening, when my wife and I were with
our friend, the painter Jean-Paul Riopelle, at La Coupole, the famous rendezvous
for artists in Montparnasse, Giacometti and a companion came in. He greeted us
the studio, the passage so

wistfully
'I

and put

his gnarled

know was a bad boy

I

half-light

of the

forward to
gentle.

66

cafe,

hand on

this afternoon;

my

my

shoulder and said to

didn't

mean

it.

me

in French,

Forgive me.' In the amber

wife observed the craggy planes of his face as he leaned

listen intently to his

few weeks

later,

companion;

it

was tormented, yet concerned and

he was dead.

ALBERTOGIACOMETTI

.^.

^
'S

k-''

fi^

f^Pl^^

4''*^'

(^

Martha Graham

American dancer and choreographer. Born in Pittsburgh, 1902; studied at Denishaw School of Dancing, Los Angeles, where she was later a student-teacher.

Made

in a dance recital, 1926; founded Dance

York, 1930, and subsequently established Martha
Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York. Among her works:

her

first

independent appearance

Repertory Theatre

in

New

Primitive Mysteries, El Penitente, Errand into the

Maze,

Letter to the World,

and

Appalachian Spring. Also, together with Agnes de Mille, has provided dances for

Oklahoma and Carousel; One Touch of Venus and Finian's Rainbow included
examples of Miss Graham's work. Capegio Award, 1959; Aspen Award in the
Humanities, 1965. Retired

as a

dancer in 1970.

69

As everybody knows, Martha Graham has originated, out of the dance, a new art
wished to photograph her ni the posture and mood of the dance.

form. Naturally,

Hut

New York

Graham's
pressed,
a

seemed impossible under the circumstances.

this

by the

apartment

stark simplicity

in

1948

Upon

arriving at Miss

was quite taken aback, though im-

with which she had chosen to surround

herself.

On

modernistic table stood a grotesque piece of petrified wood, vaguely suggesting

modern

the attitude of a

A rubber plant in one corner, a few pieces of very

dancer.

no decorations of any sort - this, then, was

Then I looked up to the ceiling and it
seemed only a few inches above my head. No one, not even Martha Graham,
could dance in such a place. '^ Compromise sometimes must be the stuff of which
pictures are made. So, rather hopelessly, I sat Miss Graham on a low stool and asked
her to assume various attitudes as if she had the space of a great stage aound her.
Amazingly enough, this restricted posture presented no problem, such perfect
control had she over her body. She was sitting on a stool, in a low room, but she
She
seemed to be dancing. In fact, she was dancing, and thus I recorded her.

modern

furniture,

to be the setting

no

of

pictures,

no

radio,

a dancer's portrait.

talked to

own

me

about the dance but clearly with

type of art.

Though

it

has

won wide

single-minded devotion to her

acceptance, she thought

it

'went over'

with younger people better than with older audiences. 'The young,' she
'have an appetite for experiment and experience, which

They have

is all

that

in schools today.'

--^

labelled impressionistic or given

Martha Graham's new trend

some other name, but it is

in

stilted,

be

on

her dance

it

~
a

never isolated from her audience. Like any

communicates with

70

may

seems to me, more representative of this fluid and changShe submerges herself in her work utterly - even under a low ceiling
stool - so that she seems mentally and physically apart. Yet her art is

fluid and, therefore,

ing age.

dancing

certainly based

sound choreography. Yet where older dance forms often seem

and on

said,

really necessary.

the habit of looking inside because of their concentration and study of

psychology

is

is

all

who watch

it,

as

I,

art,

in

it is

lonely in creation but instantly

an unlikely

setting,

watched

it.

MARTHAGRAHAM

^^.

Xif'

Ernest

American

novelist

schools and abroad.

(of World

War

and war correspondent. Born 1898; educated in elementary

Used much of his personal experience in his novels and stories

ambulance driver and

in Italy as

Paris in the twenties,

Also Rises,

in

Farewell

to

Anns, For
all

Prize for Literature in 1954.

home

at

which he covered

as

of

Ezra Pound and Gertrude

newspaper correspondent).

War

China, 1941, and on Western Front. His works include: The Sun

Sea (Puhtzer Prize, 1953);

his

soldier; the expatriate society

when he met and was influenced by

Stein; the Spanish civil war,

correspondent

Hemingway

Whom

the Dell Tolls,

these have been

made

He was found dead

of

and The Old

into films.

shotgun

Man

and

the

Awarded Nobel

wound

in 1961 in

Ketchum, Idaho.

73

In his

books and

his stories Ernest

Hemingway brought

to hfe a

swarming com-

pany of characters, but he jealously concealed himself. After reading those tales of
ferocity, violence, and physical suffering, I expected to meet in the author a comfound a
posite image of his creations. Instead, in 1957 at his home near Havana,
I

man of

peculiar gentleness, the shyest

imagine,

lies

the secret of his

life

man ever photographed. Therein,

and work. He felt in his soul, with lonely anguish,

the tragedy of our species and expressed

built

in his writing, but, for self-protection,

it

around himself a wall of silence and myth.

talk, to

focus his mind, and hence his face,

'-^

I wanted him to
which would arouse

Nevertheless,

on some

subject

what he thought about that large tribe of writers who

he gave me a ready answer. The
trouble with the imitators, he said, was that they were able only to pick out the
obvious faults in his work; they invariably missed his real purpose and his real
method -just as many readers remembered him chiefly for his defects. There was
no bitterness in this remark, only a rather sad amusement. '^ As he thought about
my question I discovered that he had a wonderful smile - alive, kindly, and full of
both; so

asked

hnn

bluntly

try to imitate his style. Forgetting his diffidence,

understanding. But on developing

here.

It is,

my

negatives

liked best the portrait printed

think, a true portrait, the face of a giant cruelly battered

by

life,

but

And what an astounding life this man had survived, quite apart
from his work He talked quietly about his airplane accidents. He was still suffering
invincible. -^

from

injuries that

would have

killed

most men. The worst of

it

was the doctor's

strict diet.

Perhaps he would soon be allowed more than a few glasses of wine

every day.

'I

and

drink.'

don't drink while

write,'

he added. 'You can't write serious stuff

suggested that he must be quite unlike Churchill in that respect and

he retorted: 'ChurchiU

my

is

a writer

of rhetoric and to write rhetoric you must drink.

him

was not
went out of his mind completely
and no longer interested him. There must never be any residue from one book
carried into another. Every book was a new challenge, I gathered, an experiment
and an adventure. 'I must forget what I have written in the past,' he explained,
'before I can project myself into a new work.' ^ As we were leaving, my wife
noted some flowers growing between the stone steps of the garden. A gardener
herself, she approved of flowers grown in this manner, though they disturbed the
stones. 'Yes,' said Hemingway, 'but we can always replace the stones.' Between
the rough boulders of this man's prose, I thought, the flowers of compassion would
But

that's

successful.

not

trade.'

Once he had

tried to start

written a book, he said,

talking of his writing but

it

always grow, whether the public noticed them or not.

74

ERNESTHEMINGWAY

''^^MiL

^.

M^ii^
i^^j\^J

ri}

^^
'^^h

vV^-sO

^^

,1

?'>>-

^^
^'>.(*i^./*;./.

NflE^

^^^1

^il

Augustus John
O.M.

British painter

(1878-1961). Studied at the Slade School, 1896-9. Taught at

Liverpool University Art School;

member of New

English Art Club; Royal

Academician, 1928-38; re-elected 1940. Trustee of the Tate Gallery; President,

Many of
known and most important paintings feature gipsy or peasant subjects; he
himself spent much time in gipsy encampments. Examples: 'The Mumpers,'
Society of Mural Painters; President, Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

his best

'Galway,' 'The Lyric Fantasy.' Also some major works in field of portraiture:

George Bernard Shaw and Dylan Thomas.

77

The

may seem somewhat melancholy,

That quality of brooding remoteness was one
close to his genius. But our meeting in 1954 was

English portrait painter Augustus John

grim, and alarming in

my

portrait.

of him and no doubt lay

side

warm and

gay.

England, and

What,

at

One of those
it

afternoon teas was served that are the glory of old

Mr. John's charming wife presided in their Hampshire home. '^

ventured to ask, did he think of portraiture by film

and brush? 'Well, of

as

compared

course,' he said, 'they are quite different media.

to canvas

You

can't

compare them. Yet both in their own ways are capable of great things.
But then, you know that already. You have proved it with your camera.' ^ He
made it clear that he had little use for most contemporary painters. The old masters
were his idols. Michelangelo, Raphael, Rubens, Rembrandt - he spoke of them
fairly

with candid idolatry. 'These great men,' he added, 'liked best to portray the

common

man.' So did John, as his portraits show.

When

compared

his

simple

yet powerful drawings to those of the immortals, he stood up suddenly in the

sitting, bowed deeply and, with a comic flourish, announced: 'No
honour can be paid to any artist.' ^-^ Luckily I seemed to have said just the
thing to produce the mood of relaxation and rather wistful contemplation
wanted to record - the look of the man who sees his own private visions of

middle of our
greater
right
that

beauty behind the faces of his subjects. At any

rate, he was an ideal subject and our

was getting late and I had to take my
leave. At the door Mr. John put his arm around my shoulders and said a little
plaintively, 'I wish I could offer you some further hospitality.' Already he had
offered me much. But the thing I would remember was the simple integrity of the

time together passed

artist, his

past.

far

devotion to his

too quickly. ^^

own

ideals

He followed his own path and,

It

of art,

a master's loyalty to the artists

think, he followed

by modern fashion and inwardly happy with

78

it

of the

alone, quite undisturbed

his quest.

AUGUSTUSJOHN

"^'STk

Wyj

His Holiness Pope John

Born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli

North Italy; died, 1963. Studied

in 1881, son
at

seminary

of
in

xxiii

peasant farmer in Lombardy,

Bergamo;

later

won

scholarship

Rome. Ordained, 1904; returned to Lombardy as

secretary to Bishop of Bergamo and as a teacher at the seminary. Served as
Chaplain in Italian army during World War
Made an Archbishop, 1925, and
given first diplomatic assignment - Apostolic Delegate in Bulgaria; promoted to
Nuncio, 1930; sent to Turkey and Greece as Apostolic Delegate, 1934; appointed
Nuncio to France, 1944; permanent observer of the Holy See to Unesco, 1952;
returned to Italy on being made a Cardinal in 1953 as Patriarch of Venice. Elected
Pope in 1958. During his reign the first Vatican Council in nearly a century was
summoned.
to the Pontifical Seminary,

i.

81

Having photographed Pope Fius

since distributed in

on film the rugged, manly

to put

Once

xii

again,

however,

my

Holiness could spare only a

December

and happily produced

his favourite portrait,

milhons of copies throughout the world,

27, 1958,

Meanwhile, however,

task
little

features

of

was made more

time from

was unable
was invited

to

his

his successor.
difficult

many

duties.

was naturally eager

Pope John xxiii. ~'

by the

photograph His Holiness

to attend a

Baciamano

fact that

Arriving in
until

(literally,

His

Rome on

January

2.

hand-kissing),

ceremony which included only twenty-four persons, in the Hall of Tapestries.

all kissed the Holy Father's ring and he, in turn, had appropriate words for
each of us. Then he blessed us from the centre of the room saying 'Let me offer
you a collective benediction that you may take it with you and share it with all
those you meet in any part of the world.' Afterwards attended a General Audience in the Clementine Hall where the Pope addressed a large gathering from his
throne, with the aid of a microphone, in Italian.
asked one of the nuns what he
had talked about and she replied with a smile, 'About his youth.' That same afternoon found myself in the Hall of Benedictions listening with fascination to
Handel's Messiah presented by the Opera House of Venice, the city of which Pope
John was Archbishop and Patriarch before his election. He was carried to the
concert on his sedia and I noted that he had a special word of acknowledgment for
his bearers. -^ By this time I had formed a clear and, I think, accurate impression
a

We

of His Holiness
a theologian

as a

compelling personality,

of genius no doubt, but

a simple, forthright

man among men and

human

already,

being,

should

suppose, a major figure in the long history of his Church, to which he had brought,

even

at his

imagination.

worry,

advanced age, an extraordinary power of leadership, and

~ That

arrived at

recalled a

also

of

impression was confirmed when, after several nights of

last in his

presence and went to work. Speaking in French,

newspaper headline, 'Le Pape

est

en prison' (The Pope

report, referring to his recent visit to convicts,

is

in prison).

seemed to amuse him. Then,

That
as the

time was ticking away very slowly from the Vatican's point of view, and very

from mine, His Holiness asked me whether I was not tired. 'No, Your
I said, 'but very anxious.' So I was, until the portrait was finally printed
at my studio in Ottawa. As I left him, he imparted his blessings with a spontaneous
fatherly smile, adding 'Bene, bene, bene.' Placing his hands on my shoulders he
said, 'I wish you to enter into your diary that you have had the longest visit with
Pope John to date.'
swiftly

Holiness,'

82

POPEJOHNXXIII

1^^

-'^''^*fm^

V"^f

Yastmari Kaivahata

Japanese novelist and short-story writer (1899-1972).

First Japanese winner of the

Began writing for the student magazine at Tokyo
University; later joined the staff of Bmm^h Shimju, a literary journal, and in 1924
co-founded the avant-garde Buii^iei Jidai. His writing was influenced by the
bereavements he suffered in childhood (by the age of sixteen he had lost his parents,
his only sister, and his grandparents) and by traditional Buddhist literature. President of the PEN Club of Japan, 1948-65, and from 1959 Vice-President of the
hiternational pen Club. Among his works best-known in the West are Snow
Country (1957) and Thousand Cranes (1959).

Nobel

Prize in Literature, 1968.

S5

The Japanese have

charming custom: instead of honouring

their great

peerages or knighthoods, they give them the respectful

treasure,' that

is,

one such 'human

title,

men with
human

'living

person treasured by the entire nation. Yasunari Kawabata was

treasure,' the country's outstanding novelist,

and the winner of

him when

I was in search
which toured that
country in 1970. ~ We met in Kawabata's home in Kamakura, just behind a
great bronze Buddha, near the sea. He had two houses really, a low, sprawhng, old
one of traditional architecture, and a new wing still under construction that was

the

Nobel

Prize for Literature in 1968.

of prominent Japanese to include

mostly western

in

was guided

an exhibit of

to

my

portraits

lioth stood in a beautiful Japanese garden.

in concept.

The

sur-

roundings were eclipsed however by the presence of our serene and gracious host,

movement, held beauty. One felt his gentle underthe Nobel Prize, the first to any Japanese author,
changed his life in any way? 'No,' he replied, 'there is no difference, only that
thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Sweden to receive it.' We asked which of his
After
works was his favourite. 'I am not really satisfied with any,' he answered.
asked whether he had some work of art that
several pictures had been taken,
whose every
standing at

utterance, every

all

times.

Had

might be included. He said, 'Yes. Yes, I will go and fetch something that will please
eye.' And with much ceremony and tenderness he brought out a square
wooden box. Inside it lay a piece of funerary sculpture [haiiiwa) about two
millennia old, an earthenware portrait of a child's head with a nose that perfectly
your

We knew he had written some much talked-of

from the Zen viewpoint. Did he think, we asked, that its many western
enthusiasts could truly understand Zen? 'How can they thoroughly understand it?'
echoed Kawabata's own.
articles

he replied.
consider

do

'I

me

not, although because

an authority.

see. Isn't religion a

ophy? 'Not exactly,

'I

have

86

this inaborisi,'

reflects

it.

it

people

People see in Zen what they wish to

both the observers and the vision?' -^

of life rather than

would

vision, a

occasionally write or speak of

only observe

mirror which

called himself an observer

word means a

He

combatant. Did he have a philos-

rather say a sense of beauty, a kind o{niaborisi.' This

phantom,

a mirage; the dictionary has

he continued, 'and

it

makes

me

no exact

translation.

pursue beauty.'

Y A

UN AR

K A

AB AT A

^x

.4i^

'^

<^

Helen Keller

Born

in

1880 in Tuscambia, Alabama; died

in 1968.

As

a result

completely blind and deaf from the age of nineteen months.

blind she lectured extensively

work

in relief

all

over the world and held

of the handicapped. Her books include Helen

and Let Us Have

Faith (1941).

of

On

illness

she

was

behalf of the

many awards

for her

Keller's Journal (1938)

Her youthful triumph over handicap was

told

m the

popular play and film, The Miracle Worker.

89

On

looking into the blind but seeing eyes of perhaps the greatest

first

our world,

said to myself:

'The

courage shines through the face

no

me

to Miss Keller's

apartment

and explained the ritual of our meeting. The woman

or hearing shook my hand and then placed her marvellously

sight

fingers

face. In

We

photographed.

her mind's eye,

were

and

en rapport

me

knew, she already had

could

make

my

sensitive

completely

Although

portrait.

who

dialled braille into Miss Keller's palm,

my

we

soon developed

com-

could speak to Miss Keller only through Miss Polly Thomson, her faithful
panion,

in

who has

in 1948,

my

on

in

Katharine Cornell, her devoted friend, had taken

New York,

woman

comes from within.' And what a light of

from the dauntless soul of Helen Keller!

light

code of

on her hand, she knew at once

exactly which way I wished her to turn and at what angle wanted her head. Her
extreme sensitivity, her alert mind, her kindness and understanding, but most of
all her gaiety, kept me amazed throughout the whole sitting. ~ Sight and hearing
had passed into her hands. Therefore a portrait of the hands was as important as a
our own. At the

of

slightest pressure

fingers

portrait

of her face - hands that create

silence,

and alone bring

kind.
first

So

this

woman

light out

into

photographed those hands and

of darkness, sound out of perpetual

communion with
as

looked

observation of Miss Keller: the light did indeed

I

have met you.

One of my

earliest

article in the Reader's Digest called

You wrote

it.

Now,

'How
in

~ 'How

sunrise for their slogan

this

is

own

repeated

within. '^

not the

first

my
Our

time

attempts to read English, years ago, was an

having met you

terms of sunset but of sunrise!'

would take

come from

'You wouldn't know, but

said to her,

sitting finished,

nature and her

at the result

to Appreciate the Beauties of Sunset.'

person
I

shall

no longer think of you

wish,' she quickly replied, 'that

all

in

men

and leave the shadows of sunset behind them.'

seemed to me, told the story of Helen Keller better than a

library of books. By her incredible victory over the flesh she had left the shadows
behind her. Blind, she had seen the sunrise; deaf, she had heard the music of the

That chance remark,

spheres.

left

it

her with a

new

sense of our

human

possibilities.

90

HELENKELLER

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

35th President of the United States; the youngest man, and the

Cathohc, to be elected to that

office.

University. Served with distinction as

boat during

World War

11.

Born

in

first

commander of a U.S. Navy motor torpedo

Member of

the U.S.

House of Representatives,

1947-53. U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, 1953-61. Author ofProfiles

for w^hich he

won

Roman

19 17 and educated at Harvard

in Coiirof^e,

the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for biography, and three other books.

As Democratic candidate in the i960 presidential election, he won a narrow victory

over Richard M. Nixon. On November 22, 1963, during a visit to Dallas, Texas,
he was shot and killed by a sniper.

93

Kennedy twice during his campaign in i960 for the

The first time, in August, was with Mrs. Kennedy
at the home of her mother, Mrs. Hugh Auchincloss. Working with those two
young people was a rare experience. It is always pleasant to photograph a handsome man beside one of the world's most alluring women. They needed no
I

photographed John

F.

Presidency of the United States.

coaching. Between them one sensed a wonderful intuitive understanding.

Senator was under considerable pressure that morning. Several

bills

~ The

of the utmost

importance were pending. Every few minutes he would excuse himself to telefor a progress report, in case he should need to rush off to vote. Yet between
these interruptions, during a session which lasted two hours, he seemed completely

phone

was enormously impressed by his ability to Uve in the

on the job of the moment. ~ The next time
we met was in the Senate offices, where I was to photograph both Kennedy and
Lyndon Johnson. The elections were closer now. One might have expected to

able to

throw off politics.

present, to concentrate completely

find the Presidential candidate tired and harassed; but like any thoroughbred he

had summoned

fresh reserves as the chance

He was
moving my photographic equipKennedy had not realized that the
of triumph approached.

thoughtful enough to suggest that instead of my

ment, he would come to Johnson's

office.

as well as in black and white and considered his

pictures would be taken in colour

'let me have yours.' As a result, the portrait

most meticulous dresser wearing a tie borrowed on

necktie unsuitable. 'Well then,' he said,

on the facing page shows

the spur of the moment.

two

President only

young man in
should be made

He

this

~ 'Senator Kennedy,'

terms.

1968.

Even

What

will

a Senator for life?

replied, 'Those are too

After a long silence, he

many

said:

asked, 'the constitution allows a

you serve for eight years, you will still be a

you do then? Do you think an ex-President
Will you write? Will you work for the party?'

if

questions to ask at once. Let

'No,

would

like to start

me

reflect a bit.

something altogether

At this moment the door opened and Johnson came in. Clasping his
Kennedy looked up at his running mate as they discussed some details of

different.'

hands,

campaign
note.

strategy.

And

in retrospect, there

is

in this attitude a

poignant prophetic

clicked the shutter, but lost the chance to enquire further into his post-

Presidential plans.

To

the world's tragic

loss,

there

were

to be

no such years

for

him.

94

JOHN

F.

KENNEDY

/..

k^,^*t4^*>^5'>W^^5--.*

'
^

S^
>v>

W\

Nikita Sergeyevicli Khrushchev

of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1953-64, and Chairof the Council of Ministers of the U.S.S.R. (Prime Minister), 1958-64. Born

First Secretary

man

1894; died 1971. Joined the Communist Party in 1918 and was active in Moscow
and the Ukraine. Became a member of the Party's Central Committee in 1934, of
its

Political

Bureau

in 1939.

During World

War

1 1,

sat

on Military Councils of

the Kiev Special Military District, Southwestern direction, Stalingrad, Southern

and

First

Ukrainian fronts. Chairman, Ukrainian Council of Ministers, 1947;

Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and

Secretary of the Central Committee,

First

Secretary of the

Moscow

Regional Committee, 1949-53;

Presidium, 1952-64. His leadership, following

of internal

restrictions,

a foreign policy

member of

the

was notable for relaxation

increased emphasis on production of consumer goods, and
Stalin's,

of 'peaceful co-existence' and competition with the west.

97

My photographic journey to the Soviet Union began in Chicago, when a member

of

exchange group

a Russian cultural

among

To which

represented?'

U.S.S.R.' This was

my

in

world

these portraits of great

all

replied, 'Because

'And why,
countrymen

lecture audience asked,

personalities,
I

my

none of

is

have not been invited to

the stimulus to send a copy of

my

book.

Portraits

visit

the

of Greatness,

Chairman Khrushchev. '^ After some months, the Soviet Ambassador

Ottawa phoned, greatly excited: the Chairman was pleased with my work.
'This is as good,' he exclaimed, 'as an engraved invitation from the White House
or Buckingham Palace.' -^ In Moscow, many outstanding personalities in the
sciences and arts and letters sat before my camera, but Khrushchev himself was on
directly to
in

How

vacation at the Black Sea.

most powerful of
Office asked

me how much

difficult question,'

could

time

answered.

'I

with Kennedy, an hour and a

first real

return

home without

a portrait

of the

spring day,

had half a minute with De Gaulle, forty minutes

half with Pope John, and two days each with

SibeUus, Casals, and Schweitzer.

cow's

members of his Praesidium? The Foreign

would require with the Chairman. 'That's a

Russians and the

all

Take an

we were

average.' '^

On

driven to Khrushchev's

April 21, 1963,

official

Mos-

dacha (country

home) outside the capital, a large, impersonal guest house free of ornamentation.
The atmosphere was very relaxed. At precisely the appointed hour, twelve noon,
Khrushchev and (to my surprise and delight) his entire family strolled across the wide
lawn, their faces tanned and smiling. '^ As I watched Khrushchev's portly figure
approaching, suddenly I thought, 'Here is a personality I must photograph in a big
fur coat.' I asked the Press Officer for such a coat. He shook his head, 'i\7ef.' My
alas, the garment was in mothballs in their Moscow
making formal photographs of the affable Chairman, I
switched the lights off, and to the surprise of the interpreter, I asked Khrushchev
directly. 'Why not?' he replied. 'Of course.' Soon an aide appeared weighed down
under the most voluminous fur I have ever seen. The Chairman then sent the aide

wife asked Mrs. Khrushchev;

apartment.

~ After

to his private dacha nearby to fetch the knitted

woollen stocking cap to complete

'You must take the picture quickly,' the Chairman smiled, donning
'or this snow leopard will devour me.' ~ Mrs. Khrushchev, who was

the costume.
the coat,

chatting with

my

wife,

was astonished when the

fur appeared. She bent

forward

'You know, that coat is

the very one Harold Macmillan wore when he and my husband went tobogganing
here together. Mr. Macmillan fell off- but my husband did not!' The Chairman
exclaimed, 'This is Canada Day! Not only are you photographing me, but your
intimately, and, with a twinkle in her eye, recollected,

Ambassador, Arnold Smith,

at

my

today to Siberia to inspect

invitation, flew

such tour by any Western diplomat.' ~'

is

the

first

chev whether he

felt

more

installations. It

at ease

with the then-new 'hot

line'

asked Khrush-

from Moscow to
to save the world

Washington. 'Yes,' he said, 'but we need more than a hot line

from chaos. We need a meeting of minds.' '~ Of course, I could not foresee then
that, within eighteen months, this remarkable personage would be out of office.
But on hearing the news of his fall, I could not doubt that in Russian history he
would always remain a formidable landmark, the agent or at least the symbol of a
decisive

and hopeful change

in his nation's life.

Here,

venture to think,

is

the face

of the eternal peasant, perhaps the collective portrait of a great people, painted

Cromwell, warts and

~"

98

like

all.

NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV

^j

'M
*^

Martin Luther King^Jr.

American clergyman and

movement. Born 1929 in

Memphis, Tennessee, in April 1968.

leader in the civil rights

Atlanta, Georgia. Killed by assassination in

Educated Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, Boston University.

Pastor, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama. President,

Montgomery Improvement

Association.

Founder and

leader.

Southern Christian

Leadership Council. Author of Stride Towards Freedom, Strength

to

Love,

Why We

Can't Wait. Received several honorary degrees and other awards. Nobel Peace
Prize winner, 1964.

lOI

In

August 1962

was asked

down

to hurry

Reverend Martin Luther King for

to Atlanta, Cieorgia, to

a national publication.

home from nearby Albany, where

photograph the

He had

just returned

months he had been leading the most

for

concentrated and sustained assault on segregation seen

till

then in the South.

by his oratory and example, hundreds of Negroes of all ages and backgrounds had allowed themselves to be herded into jail until the cells overflowed
Inspired

He

with their protest.

had spent time

He

approval.
citizens.

very

--^

in

but harbouring no hatred, not even dis-

This portrait was taken under the most

relax

commiserating on

new

vilified, attacked, arrested twice; he, too,

tired,

sought only that he and his people should be treated

Nowhere could he
ning

found him

time, and the only place available

little

well,

himself had been

)ail. I

when

was

We

had

corner of Mr. King's church.

constantly beset by friends and aides wishing

his difficulties, congratulating

him upon

him

his return, plan-

What emerged in my mind and, trust, in the portrait, was the

man and his clear vision of ultimate victory. This young minister,

strategy.

dedication of the

as first-class

difficult conditions.

only 33 when the picture was taken, had been leading the civil rights battle since
the bus boycott in Montgomery six years earlier. He had already seen many
barriers

he had helped to engender

fall;

the one in Albany,' he said, 'thousands of

with their heads buried.

walk with

warned of a

new

Now

new

and

militancy.

self-respect.'

He feared

are the rights

act,

he

movement

said,

^ What

They

of the future?

He

would depart from

from Gandhi and always

but not with hatred. 'Only

like

be walking around

still

that his people

the non-violent civil disobedience he had learned

lowed. Negroes must

'Without

spirit.

they have become organized and articulate.

sense of dignity

potential

new

Negroes would

when

fol-

the people act

on paper given life. But they must never use second-class methods to
We must never succumb to the temptation to use violence.' ^^

gain those rights.

As

flew back to Ottawa that evening and the quiet coolness of Little Wings,

home on
advance

and

the Rideau River,

rolls in

persistent

thought of something

on the wheels of inevitability.

work of

It

dedicated individuals.'

better than Martin Luther

else

he had

said:

'No

my

social

comes through the tireless efforts

in America personified

No man

King the dedication of

his

people to their inalienable

rights.

102

MARTIN LUTHER KING,

JR.

.v.

.0S^

:'i\

Roppeita Kita

Japanese

begun

Noh

player,

born

in

Tokyo

in 1874.

The

popularity of the

Noh

to decline after the Meiji restoration in 1868; a subsequent revival

in the tradition

was

Kitaryu school of

largely

Noh

due to

plays had

of interest

He became the 14th head of the

member of the Art Academy of Japan.

his influence.

players and a

105

Roppeita Kita

is

more than

so revered that
knees

in respect.

actors of the

all

who

At 90-plus, when

Noh

drama,

over seven centuries, so

it is

in

Japan. During his

life

he was

when he was on

a living shrine

stage

to their

fell

photographed him, he was one of the greatest

form of theatre which has been

filled

Japanese can fully appreciate

eye,

legend

entered the theatre

so meticulously

refmed

with subtle symbolism, that even few contemporary

all

the nuances of the performance.

fascinating but totally alien.

Kita's son,

and

his

To

the

Western

grandson, acted in the

same Noh company. The graceful young man in the portrait is Kita's grandson;
I wanted to include him Ko stress the continuity of tradition. He proved most helpful, as well, in conveying messages by shouting - with the utmost respect - into
the elder's ear. ^ The photograph was taken on the stage of the Kita Noh Theatre

Tokyo. The painted screen in the background was the only scenery: the pine
symbolic of the Noh drama - and of eternity. The white post behind Kita
serves a more practical purpose. Two such posts on the stage help to orient the
principal actor, whose vision is restricted by the narrow eyeholes of an elaborate
wooden mask. (The second actor is not permitted to wear the mask; he must make
his face as mask-like as possible.) ^ The masks worn in Noh drama represent the
nature of the characters portrayed. Before each performance, an actor imbues
himself with that spirit, taking the mask reverently from its lacquer box, donning
in

trees are

it,

and communing with

it

before the mirror. If he

the spirit of the mask, he fears,

in his

way of breathing. This

is

it

will

show on

is

not in complete possession of

stage in his hands

more than putting on make-up;

and

gestures,

it is

psychological

even

^ There are no women in the Noh theatre; all feminine roles are
men.
played by
Even the strongest, most virile actors are changed, and not only
in carriage and movements: they seem to take on a feminine soul and spirit as well.
transformation.

Kita's

own

dance for

was the Princess, an angel who descends from heaven to

has found her robe, in the play, Hagoromo. (Perhaps
was connected with his former passion for fishing - a hobby he

favourite role

fisherman

this attraction

who

could no longer pursue

when we

met, nor,

alas,

others caught.) -^ Before

we went on

room while

Kita

smoked

a cigar.

illumine the

Noh

stage with incandescent light,

Not

the stage,
until a

asked whether he minded photographers, since

could he even eat the

we

sat

and talked

fish that

in his dressing

few years ago was it permitted to

and then only for brief periods. I
it is

absolutely forbidden to photo-

The old man admitted that once the idea of a camera portrait,
particularly on stage, would have been abhorrent. But right after the war, American soldiers used to give him cigarettes, and in return for such treasures he had felt
obliged to let them take his picture. Now he was used to it. His allergy to film had
been overcome - through an addiction.
graph the play

106

itself.

ROPPEITA KITA

^-Sl^^

.'^,'"*.

i''

..M!^^

iM0
k^'.
*>

Jacques Lipchitz

At eighteen went to Paris, where he studied

Beaux Arts and the Acadcmie Julian. First exhibited in
19 1 2 at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon National des Beaux Arts; first oneman show, 1920. Continued working in Paris until just before its occupation by
the Germans, when he escaped to the south of France. In 1941 went to the United
States, where he became established in New York through a series of one-man
shows, and where he earned an international reputation as an innovator in
sculpture. Died 1973.
Sculptor, born in Lithuania in 1891.

sculpture at the Ecole des

109

The

vital patriarch

of contemporary sculpture, Jacques Lipchitz -

massive man,

no longer ramrod straight, but very strong studied me intently as arranged my

hghting and camera at his Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, home. 'What a head
thought then that
to sculpt,' he murmured, 'I should like to do you in bronze.'
I

this

70-odd-year-old giant was

weeks later, and

meet again in Italy. The

being polite. Hut

reiterated that

three
to

)ust

be the subject!
Pietrasanta

is

tables

'1

really

mean

were turned, and

it

to me
we agreed
who would

when he telephoned
and

this

am

time

serious,'
it

was

The Fonderia d'Arte of Luigi Tommasi in the Tuscan hamlet of

where Lipchitz worked most of the year. The location is in the

of great sculpture. Near the foundry are the Carrara marble quarries, and
the path Michelangelo trod during the Renaissance in search of perfect white stone
is still used today. The village is a magnet which draws pilgrims from the world
tradition

of

art,

letters,

absorbing.

and

society.

He worked

in a

began to form from the

Observing Lipchitz' method of working proved

very pure fashion; one piercing glance and an image

inert clay -

with such intensity that any interruption

mood. soon found that if said anything, just to lighten the creative
I sat for him. seven mornings, an
tension, he would be completely distracted.
hour and a half each day with a five-minute break at midpoint. We would then
repair for lunch to what he called the 'Labourers Club.' I discovered this meant
creative labourers - those who worked in the foundry transforming Lipchitz'
small maquettes into colossal bronze reality. ~ The atmosphere of the club was
like an idyll from an ancient Roman poet - the simplest of wooden benches, gravel
floors, a roof of vines in the open air, good wine. Lipchitz enjoyed the honesty and
earthiness of these surroundings. ~ Another aspect of Lipchitz - his extreme
sophistication - was evident in his villa, a sixteenth-century structure he and his
wife, YuUa, had renovated. Proud African warrior heads and animals stood
silhouetted against the landscape from the loggia. '^ There was a magnificent
collection of archaic statues and artifacts from man's ancient past. Of these,
Lipchitz remarked, 'It's not only the aesthetic aspect (of these artifacts) which
interests me, but the men who did it - what they felt. The men ... from all the
ages ... are with me in this collection.' -^ It was his second such collection; the
first he lost when he fled penniless from Europe to New York in 1941. After 1945
shattered his

he scoured the Continent seeking

centipede looking frantically for a

his lost treasures, almost, as

lost

arm.'

Now,

he told

us,

he put

it,

'like a

he would never

every day and not regret

was spent on the Lipchitz
loggia. Gathered together were three titans of contemporary sculpture: Lipchitz
himself, Marino Marini, and Henry Moore. There was no common language in
which all were fluent. Conversation was a polyglot of English, French, and Italian,
yet there was great understanding between them.
Beyond them stretched
miles of Tuscan landscape that resembled a Renaissance painting. As I watched,
the scene was pierced by storms and lightning, then cleared, then storms returned.
It was a thrilling, almost Wagnerian, reminder in the presence of great art, of the
spectacular power of nature.
repeat this desperate search:

the past.'

'I

have

finally learned to live

~ One of the fascinating evenings of my

life

no

JACQUES LIPCHITZ

<^

>.

-.V ,'.*'
t:^^.
i>

Norman Mailer

Contemporary American novelist, born 1923 in Long Branch, New Jersey.

Graduated from Harvard in 1943 with degree in aeronautical engineering. Served
in U.S. Army in Pacific theatre. His first novel. The Naked and the Dead, published
in 1946, was considered the finest U.S. novel of World War
Subsequent books
1

include Barbary Shore (195

1.

The Deer Park (1955), The White Ne^ro (1957),

Advertisements for Myself [igsg]. The Presidential Papers (1963), An American Dream
(1965) and Why Are We in Vietnam? (1967). In The Armies of the Ni<^ht and Miami
and the Sie^e oj Chicago (both 1968) he developed a style which uses the richness
of the novel in recounting actual events, with the narrator as a full participant.

Ran

unsuccessfully for

1),

mayor of New York

in 1969.

113

hope you can spend the evening,' was Norman Mailer's greeting. 'I'm planning
to cook dinner for you.' That was our gracious introduction to the enfant terrible
of American letters, the man whose self-advertised penchant for violent excess had
caused more than one qualm as we planned this visit. ^ My wife and had driven

'I

through the Berkshire

Hills to his

home

Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Mailer

in

had only recently bought the house, an enormous 19th century Gothic edifice,
large enough to hold all the children of his several marriages whenever they came

don't

like the spirits in this house.'

haven't done anything to

it.

portions of the house were

my

of the evening

to stay with him. In the course

It's a

still

wife, Estrellita said,

Mailer replied, 'Neither do

place to live, that's

all.'

And

Mailer writes of

'You know,

why
we saw that

That's

indeed

where

unfinished, and the large hallway

photographs was bereft of furniture.

I.

world

took the

'stripped of

who created it. He

hope,' in which a sick society reflects the sickness of the people

American existentialist who has proclaimed that man today lives with death
whether instant from atomic bombs or slow from stifling conformity - and that
the only life-giving response is to 'live with death as immediate danger, to divorce
oneself from society, to exist without roots ... in that enormous present ... where
is

the

he must gamble with

and unforeseen

an animal forging

and protective.

his energies

situations.'
its

way

through

^ That

is

all

not the

those small or large crises of courage

man we

met. Intense, yes, almost like

in a straight, instinctive path.

^ When we

arrived, a

But

also gentle, concerned,

young woman was

just leaving after an

interview in which she had sought his advice about her writing. Several other
fledgling authors called during the afternoon.

With them

never 'Mr. Mailer.' Invariably he was kind and helpful. -^

himself-

all

he was 'Norman,'

He

did cook the meal

Chinese dinner - and invited a neighbour to join

a special dish for

my

wife,

who

is

allergic to

many

foods.

us.

He

^ He

even prepared

had hoped we

might be able to hear his wife sing at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, and when
that proved impossible he played tapes for us of one of her performances. She has
a lovely warm blues voice. I also photographed him with his three-and-a-half-yearold daughter, Maggie, a precociously bright blonde. During the afternoon and at
dinner they talked, with a rapport that was most touching.

stormy, proved a warm, intimate family occasion.

hope

caught both the restlessness and the gentle concern of

innovative in his art yet so protective

of us

New

in his car to

make

sure

when we

we were on

that

visit, far

my

from

portrait has

this creative

left that

American,

he drove miles ahead

the right road, safely

on the way

to

York.

114

^ Our

NORMAN MAILER

^
i.4f\v^>

Giacomo Manzu

Italian sculptor,

craftsman

who

born

in

Bergamo

in

1908.

At eleven became apprentice

to a

specialized in church decorations; later attended evening classes in

one-man show of sculpture, Rome, 1938. First came to interwhen awarded the Grand Prix in Italian Sculpture at the Venice
Biennale in 1948. Work has been exhibited in major museums in the United States
and Europe. Until 1954 was Professor of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts
of Brera in Milan. Among his major works are the main doors of Salzburg
Cathedral, the Porta delle Morte in St. Peter's in Rome, and the Porta della Pace e
della Guerra of St. Laurenz Church, Rotterdam. Awarded the Lenin Peace Prize

plastic arts. First

national attention

by Curtis Bill Pepper (Giniger, 1968) described the

development of his friendship with Pope John xxiii, who had invited his fellow
in 1966. T/?c^/-fi5frt;?(/f/?cPo/Jc

townsman

to sculpt his portrait.

117

many

It is

Rome

kilometers from

town of Ardea. Not only

in the

to

did

Giacomo Manzu's almost

we

baronial holdings

photography, but

travel there for

we were

on an informal errand. Our mutual friend, the famous Italian men's designer,
Angelo Litrico, had just completed a brocade evening jacket for the sculptor, and
we were delivering it personally. '^ As we drove up to the main house, we noticed
a

man entering one of the outbuildings, walking with such

we were reminded of a bull making his way, oblivious

stooped and massive

singular concentration that

of anything

One

of the

We realized later that this determined figure had been Manzu.

else.

first

things

we saw upon entering

one for every conceivable occasion,

his

main

perched

all

hall

was

-^

huge rack of hats,

at rakish angles

- next to an

There we were met by our host's young wife, Inge, a

ballerina who had modelled for him in Munich and is still the frequent inspiration
for much of his work. She hung the elaborate evening jacket between the hats and
the Greek torso, creating still another study in contrasts, and we were led into the
Manzii entered, pervading the formal salon with his enorhuge living room.
exquisite

Greek

torso.

mous

peasant vigour, wearing a hat with a feather.

afternoon.

Manzu makes no bones about

He

remove that hat all

was born a peasant, in

did not

the fact that he

Bergamo, where Pope John xxiii also grew up. As a successful artist, he has
dream of every peasant, to own much land, to drink much wine, to
enjoy much luxury. He drove us to his studio, a large barn near the house. No one
fulfilled the

walks

in his

In the barn,
plaster

menage; they drive, even

and

in various stages

from

cardinals as a subject stems

town, the processions of prelates,

stately grace,

on

at a

fifty

a small

or sixty yards. -^

army of cardinals

in

of completion. Manzii's fascination with

youth when,

his early
in their

in his native

medieval

hill

gorgeous pyramidal robes moving with

almost like chess pieces propelled from beneath, etched themselves

his inner eye.

him

only

is

neighbouring sheds, stood

in smaller

and other media

if the distance

nearby

~ We

we might take some photographs of

Amici Manzu (The Friends of Manzii).
if he were going to be photographed, it was to be on his
discussed whether

museum of his

sculpture,

He adamantly refused;
own soil. -^ During our

photographic session, he spoke tenderly of his great

Pope John xxiii. Although Manzu was a professed Communist,
and his work was condemned by the Holy Office during the Ministry of Pius xn.
Pope John xxiii had invited his fellow townsman to sculpt his portrait and,
friendship with

Manzu

ultimately, his death mask.

told us

many of the

experiences that appear in

Curtis Bill Pepper's fascinating account, The Artist and the Pope.

confessed to the Pope he was confused because, after

two

When

Manzii

fruitless attempts,

he

could not yet find the inner core of His Holiness, the Pope responded, 'Yes, but

What matters is that you seek. Also that you

you wouldn't spend a lifetime creating it with your
hands and your heart.' '^ The late July afternoon grew hotter and hotter, but we
were both oblivious of the extreme heat. Together we enjoyed a bottle of chamthere are confusions in any search.

love humanity. Otherwise,

pagne Manzu opened to celebrate the photography. Manzii maintained the peasant
mask with much knee-slapping, Italian jokes, and earthy expressions. But, as he
briefly

touched one of his cardinals,

his inner artistic

reverence revealed

itself.

'~

As we were packing the equipment, Inge sent over a pot of tea on exquisite china,
and she and Manzu left. Only later did we learn that they had had an appointment
for

and

118

two hours
respect,

earlier, at a

town 30

miles away. Such

was Manzu's consideration

he had not thought of cutting our time short.

GIACOMO MANZU

MVituti

Marcel Marceau

French mime, creator of the character,

the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and

'Bip.'

was

Charles DuUin; soon after he created his

Marcel Marceau. Appeared

a tour overseas; has

now

Born

in Strasbourg, 1923; studied at

pupil of the famous actor and teacher

own company,

at Paris theatres

where

the

Compagnie de Mime
him to undertake

his success led

been seen on several tours

in the

United States and

Canada.

121

From

the start everything

went badly

Marceau, the great French mime.

my

in

attempt to photograph Marcel

had arranged

a sitting in

Montreal, in 1956,

on my way to the United States, but at the appointed hour

that all my equipment had been shipped, by mistake, straight through to
New York. However, some weeks later, M. Marceau arrived in New York for
further stage appearances and a new appointment was set in my studio-apartment.

where
found

would

after the

felt,

stop

Montreal

my

efforts to please

had

his

own

sitting

familiar poses, attitudes,

this

owed my

sub)ect unusual politeness but, in

the situation get entirely out of hand. '^

let

preconceived ideas about the portrait he wanted. In

about to conclude the

doing

fiasco, that

him,

suddenly realized that

and expressions

that

had already asked him not to use

could see the abounding mobility of his

had been recording

had seen on the

his white-face

own

The

fact, as

face.

Thus,

all

To

stage.

make-up, so
in the

actor
I

was

those

avoid
that

concluding

was compelled to be quite firm with him. Though he may have

wisdom, he took my suggestions well. ^^ M. Marceau revealed very
definite theories of art and some particular preferences. He was particularly enamoured of his portrayal of 'Death' in his famous sketch, 'Youth, Maturity, Old
Age, and Death,' and feeling that at the end of this sequence he really died and
moments,

doubted

left this

random

their

world!

think he almost believed

me

conversation, he told

seven years old.

He had become

it

as a fact.

~' In the course of a long,

an amusing story about

his father's

his son Michel, then

most ardent admirer and

at the

conclu-

sion of every performance led the applause with shouts of 'Bravo, Papa, bravo!'

M. Marceau warned

the boy repeatedly that this sort of thing was not done, yet

invariably, as the curtain descended, the father heard the son's small familiar voice.

He told me that it was highly embarrassing, but could

may fancy his role as 'Death,' but my favourite
I

actor

'The
is it

fly's

Butterfly.' In

vice versa?)

and

it
I

see that

he loved

he seems 90 per cent butterfly, 10 per cent

always think of him thus,

delight plainly visible

on

flitting

it.

-^

The

in his diverse repertoire

through

human
life

with

is

being (or
a butter-

that ever changing sensitive face.

MARCEL MARCEAU

William Somerset

Maugham
C.H.

British novelist and dramatist (i 874-1965). Educated at King's School, Canterbury; Heidelberg University; and St. Thomas's Hospital, w^here he studied medicine. His novels include: Liza of Lambeth, Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Six-

pence,

The Painted

Veil,

Cakes and Ale, The Razor's Edge.

He wrote also many

plays,

some of which have become classics of the modern theatre: The Circle, The Letter,
The Constant Wife. His brilliant short stories remain very popular and have been
the basis of several films.

125

The
is

face

of Somerset

as familiar to the

covered

in the

Maugham

world

grand

suite

was quite unlike the man

- a deeply hned, wise, and ahnost ageless face -

as are the writer's

of a

New York

teeming works. Yet the

man

dis-

hotel in 1950 entirely surprised me.

had expected from reading

his stories

and many

He

articles

--^ Apparently he had kept his appointment with me by interrupting

customary afternoon nap. The black eye-shield he wore at such times still

about him.
his

dangled from

his

hand.

Though he obviously would have

preferred to rest (for

me his whole
charmed me away from the business of the sitting. -^ To
begin with, his face was arresting - not handsome, of course, in any conventional
sense but impressive, rather like the carved, wooden image of some tribal god in
the South Seas where he roamed so often. The eyes were penetrating, almost
hypnotic and intensely alive. That well-known expression of starkness (often
taken for cynicism) broke frequently into the most engaging smile. To my surprise
Maugham, the realist, the hard-boiled sceptic, possessed an irresistible warmth. This
made the work of the camera easy but did not help my other purpose. I wanted to
ask him a thousand questions about his methods, his life, and his views, but after
half an hour I realized that I, not he, was being interviewed. Out of long habit,
I suppose, he automatically began to draw a stranger out. His curiosity about
human nature was insatiable in his old age. He found in everybody, even the
chance passer-by, the possibility of some quirk or anecdote that had in it the
making of a tale after passing through the alchemy of his imagination. I had the
sudden vivid feeling that he viewed the human comedy with the objectivity of my
camera.
At any rate, Mr. Maugham talked little and I am afraid that I talked
much, simply because I could not resist a man who appeared to have no interest
in the world just then but me. Doubtless that was his custom with everyone who
he was by then an 'old party'

as

he always told reporters), he gave

attention and almost

is known to just about everyone who reads his stories. '^

Maugham was not in a talking mood that day, but have heard that in this
respect his mood could change. A close friend of his remarked to me, later, that
Maugham 'when he gets going is an extraordinarily interesting talker and talks as

crossed his path; the result

Mr.

well as he writes. Yes, and he reads his stories aloud as well as any actor could.' -^
I

remember Somerset Maugham, then, rather as a polished, elegant, and symimmense cunning in penetrating another man's inner-

pathetic listener, with an

most thoughts.

126

WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM

#
%\

Francois Mauriac

French poet, playwright, and novehst (1885-1970). Was brought up in strict

Roman Cathohc orthodoxy by his widowed mother, educated at Bordeaux
University and the Ecole des Chartres in Paris. His

first hterary success was Le

Other works include Gemtrix, Le Nceud dc
viperes, Asmodee (a play), and Lc Saponin. During World War ii he worked for
the French Resistance and wrote a 'Cahier noir' for the clandestinely published

Baiser au lepreux,

pubhshed

in 1922.

war he contributed to Figaro, Figaro littcraire, and

Grand Prix of the Academic Frangaise, 1926, and the

Editions de inimiit. After the

La Table

Nobel

roiide.

Won

the

Prize for Literature, 1952.

129

speak with strong conviction and somewhat bitter experience

It is quite absurd - to say that the French are a decadent race. How can they be when so many of
them cUmb six flights of stairs several times a day? Indeed, most of the great FrenchI

men

have photographed have chosen to hve on the sixth floor, or higher,

Frangois Mauriac, the eminent and devout Catholic writer,

without an elevator
for example. Such

New

Olympian

stamma and

~ Since

World.

heights,

asceticism

M. Mauriac could

and

would be unthinkable
not be asked to

in the

vigorous

come down from

his

my assistant were compelled to ascend, with all our heavy

And

photographic equipment, in several breath-taking climbs.

then, after

all

the

So we waited hopefully, on
wires had been connected, there was no
Since he lived by
again.
turned
on
power
to
be
Paris
for
the
that day in 1949,
electricity!

choice under such difficult conditions,

Mauriac sunk

him

in

in the state

was not

entirely surprised to

fmd M.

profound pessmiism. Apparently he saw nothing to encourage

of the world and was entirely convinced that civilization must

ultimately face a third, devastating war.

He

spoke in a strange, muffled voice,

While we waited for electricity,

which he explamed as the result of an operation.
he talked freely on many subjects of a philosophical sort. I dehberately needled
him a bit on his familiar journalistic feud with Sartre and the existentialists, then
the prevailing fad in France. M. Mauriac was most definitely anti-Sartre, whom he
considered an apostle of negation, a very bad and dangerous state of mind to be
nourished among the French people. Evidently M. Mauriac had done his best to
discourage this movement and, with an air of triumph, he showed me a newspaper
article in which, it appeared, he had entirely vanquished Sartre. -^ We had been
talking for a long time but still there was no electricity and I was on the point of
despair.

Yet

phernalia

after

climbing those endless

stairs

with

all

my

photographic para-

did not intend to leave empty-handed and undergo the same ordeal a

second time.

^ On the off-chance of success,

placed

French door and against the greyest of Parisian

my

skies.

open
removed a

subject before an

My

assistant

sheet from the bed and held it up as a reflector. The resulting profile portrait, I feel,
conveys Francois Mauriac' s Gallic charm and perhaps something of his dark

despondency about human

130

affairs.

FRANgOIS MAURIAC

Marshall McLiihan
c.c.

Canadian author, university professor, and communications

Educated

at

specialist.

Horn 191

University of Manitoba and Cambridge University, and has taught

universities in the

United

States

1.

at

and Canada since 1936. Professor of EngHsh,

now Director of its Centre for Culture and

University of Toronto since 1946 and

Technology. Schweitzer Professor

1967-8. His

many

in

the Humanities at

Fordham

University,

publications have given rise to considerable controversy, as has

his theory that civilization is being reshaped by the nature of the media used for
communication rather than by their content ('the medium is the message'). Has
received numerous international literary awards and honours.

133

No

would be complete without

collection of faces of our time

the guru of the

most talked about academic figure in North
America. Marshall McLuhan's name became, in the 1960s, if not a household word,

electronic age, for over a decade the

certainly a cocktail party cliche, even

spawning

popular adjective, 'McLuhan-

esque,' to describe similarities to his theories or, alternatively, his

pression.

His analysis of the changes in society that have

of the electronic media, both

'cool'

broad scholarship; yet they are

outrageous fashion

as to

at

and

'hot,' are

manner of ex-

come with

the advance

based on evident brilliance and

times couched in such cryptic, oracular, even

make them

as difficult to

stand. Still they are taken almost as gospel

accept as they

may

be to under-

by many. Successful advertising cam-

paigns, including even one for the presidency of the United States, have been

based on their message. '^ We had arranged to meet in his book-fiUed office in
one corner of the University of Toronto campus, where he has been professor of
English for

many

years.

For hours he talked almost continuously, interestingly,

was absolutely fascinating, but at the end of it I was exhausted, and

suggested we wait for photography until the next day. Yet engaging as are his
mind and personality, I can remember little of what he said then. We have since
had other good long walks and talks together, at Toronto and at Fordham
quotably:

it

University where he held the Albert Schweitzer chair for

must admit
retained
first,

to

from

then

a year.

Nevertheless,

more I have found myself with him, the less I have

philosophy. At our second meeting, I announced: 'Photography

regretfully that the

his

talk.'

'^

Some

time

two of the most important

later,

had an opportunity to introduce McLuhan

advertising executives in the Americas.

us spent an extremely agreeable and stimulating evening together.

The

four of

At the end of it

one of the executives thought McLuhan was a genius; the other emphatically did
not - which seems to sum up the general division of opinion - and the influence

of the man.

134

MARSHALL MCLUHAN

1I

-^:S

^^?

V7-ffc-r<i

^s

k'.:

^t^

Joan Mir

Spanish surrealist

artist.

Born

by the use of pure colours,

as a painter,

went to Paris in
movement. His work is distinguished
and abstract shapes. Although best known

in 1893; studied art in Barcelona;

1919 and in the twenties joined the

surrealist

delicate lines,

he has also worked in ceramics, sculpture, engraving, and lithography.

In 1959 he was awarded the Guggenheim Prize for two ceramic murals for the
Unesco Building in Paris. Now divides his time between Paris and Palma de
Majorca. (A print of this portrait has been acquired by the Philadelphia Museum

of Art.)

137

The

self-ertacement of this great Spanish painter

interviewed him.

He

is

is

well

known

pleasant; he co-operates; but he gives

anyone

to

who

has

of himself away

little

was one that was most anxious to add

Our World' which I was assembling
for EXPO, the 1967 World's Fair in Montreal. All this was in my mind as we
approached Studio Maeght in the suburbs of Paris where Joan Miro was completing a new set of lithographs. '^ Inside, the building looked like any small
printing plant - a prosaic setting for a master of fantasy and symbolism. In one
room a man sat working. He was a type that could blend with any wallpaper. His
clothes were extraordinary: silks, velvets, suedes, a combination of the Coted'Azur
and Capri. But on him they looked like overalls, three hues darker than life. So
pervasive was Miro's personal reticence that it overwhelmed even the opulence of
and

is

rarely photographed.

to a special exhibition of

his

costume. '~

his portrait

Who Make

written, 'A man's

life,

as others

know

it, is

not the real one,

semblance they construct. The real Miro is as truly what I am to myself

what others - and perhaps even I - conceive of me as being. Isn't the essential

but only
as

He has

Yet

'Men

self to

be found in that mysterious area where creation takes place

to separate the clothes

from the man?

How

work. Mir6 was agreeable. Gradually he began to

as painting,

peeled

off.

might be an

Once

art;

...?'

How was

to capture the essential self? '^

set to

realize that portraiture, as well

and slowly but perceptibly the

or twice he looked up, and for a

moment

layers

around him

twinkle came into his

I placed one of his unfinished lithographs before him: he studied it, and
became lost in communion with the works of his imagination. ^' At last I asked,
'Do you usually look like that when you work?' With a deprecating little smile,
he took off the beautiful suede jacket he had worn for the portrait, and put on a

eyes.

well-worn, paint-stained sweater.

work. -^ Then

Now he began to

relax,

Don't you wear

still

contemplating

his

Almost apologetically, but very happily, as if he were relieved to stop posing, he went over to a closet
and pulled out a battered and mellow old hat. He sat down again, put it on and
looked up as if to say, 'So, you found me out.' '~ At that moment of revelation I
released the shutter. The camera, I hope, has found him out.

138

said, 'It's rather chilly.

a hat?'

JOAN MIRO

^>

^p

4**

V^J^T^jf-'-y

'J^^wHBRP3Bf*<lBftX;

Henry Moore
O.M., C.H.

British sculptor. Born 1898; educated at the Leeds School of Art and the Royal
College of Art. Originator of a new school in sculpture which aims at utmost
economy of line. Many exhibitions of his work have been held in London; has

Stockholm, Zurich, Paris, New York, Chicago,

San Francisco, Melbourne, Sydney. Trustee of the Tate Gallery 1941-8 and 194956; Trustee of the National Gallery 1955-63 and 1964-74; works on exhibition

also exhibited in Venice, Berlin,

in Victoria

Art

(New

and Albert Museum and Tate Gallery (London), Museum of Modern

York), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), and elsewhere.

141

The

time

first

morning
His huge
I

photographed

plaster figures

Moore

asked

lenry Moore, on a bitterly cold and rainy English

seemed low

1949, the temperature

in

that

spiritually as well as physically.

seemed then to express the cold objectivity of the

day

whom

he considered the greatest sculptor of

sculptor.
all

time.

Without hesitation, he replied, 'Michelangelo!' This answer, from an artist whose

works personified the ultra-modern, struck me as remarkable. Moore went on:
'The importance of

every time

all art in

one period, one culture, influences

become one of the few

artists

a retrospective exhibition

of Western

treasure-city

mired for

art.

others.'

it is

international -

Henry Moore has

Since then,

in his lifetime;

era. In his mid-seventies,

he

is

perhaps the

he had the glorious tribute

of his bronzes on the Belvedere in Florence, the

And, like his revered Michelangelo, he is today ad-

profound humanism.

his

the very fact that

honoured universally

most important sculptor of his

of

all

is

graphed him many times, both

-^ Since

at his English

that first meeting,

home

at

Hertfordshire and, in the summer, in Tuscany at Pietrasanta, where

close to Carrara, the marble quarries

have photo-

Much Hadham

in rural

artists

gather

of the Renaissance masters. Long-lived and

much of the simplicity of his

^ The huge marbles and
expression of his work. Moore says,

healthy, genial, yet surprisingly reticent, he retains

youth

as the

seventh son of a Yorkshire coalminer.

bronzes the public

'First,

knows

you must make

are only the final

a small

maquette that you can turn over and over again,

October 1974, his munificent gift to Canada of

hundred works - original plasters, bronzes, graphics, and drawings established the Art Gallery of Ontario as the definitive home for the study of
Moore in North America, and enriched an entire continent. This photograph,
changing

some

it

in

your hands.'

In

three

one of six of my portraits of him

now on perHenry Moore Sculpture Centre.

-^ The day it was taken, Moore urged that we start early 'so we will finish in good
time for lunch.' We went together over spacious lawns and hillocks populated by
his monumental bronzes, photographing Moore with his sculpture. He commented frequently on the play of natural light on his work - a fascination he has
had adapted to the indoor Centre in Toronto. It was designed under his supervision
to provide an easy flow of overhead light, which changes as the day progresses,
rather than artificial pinpoints of incandescent light. ^ Only after an aperitif, as

taken

Much Hadham

at

manent

in 1972,

is

display in the Gallery's specially-designed

we were

sitting

down

to Irina

Moore's delectable lunch, did

we

learn that their

Mary had been much in their thoughts all morning. The night before,
on their way back from London, she and a friend had been victims of a hit-and-run
driver. The Moores had been awakened at three a.m. to learn that Mary was in
hospital, with a severe gash in her forehead. With typical thoughtfulness, they
daughter

we were finishing
home. To witness the Moores' concern for her friend and for
Mary - the gift of their marriage, born only after seventeen years together, and
the most important person in their lives - was a genuinely touching experience.

withheld the news until our photographic session was over. As

dessert,

142

Mary

arrived

HENRY MOORE

^m

^%

^^

>

r-

.'J-/''*V

"it.

',

),

It ft

Vladimir Nabokov

Contemporary

novelist,

born

Petersburg

in St.

(now Leningrad)

in

1899. His

family fled to Berlin after the Soviet revolution, and then went to England where

he attended Cambridge University on

children. First studied zoology,

to 1940 he lived in France and

taught

at

a scholarship established for Russian

and then French and Russian

Germany, then went

to the

literature.

emigre

From 1922

United States where he

Cornell University from 1948 to 1958. Although he had published several

books of prose and poetry from

bestseller Lolita that his

it was only in 1955 with the

word. Has since published three

his twenties on,

name became

a household

further novels and his autobiography, Speak, Memory.

145

To photograph

Vladimir

Lake Cleneva, where

Nabokov

in the shelter

in timeless gentility in the

to Montreux, on the shores of

I journeyed
of the great Swiss Alps the famed author resides

town's principal hotel.

Its

vast reception halls,

century elegance, seem to echo the arcane literary style of

Nabokov,

the son of an old aristocratic family, has never

this

its

19th

emigre genius.

owned

-^

house himself.

After his family's flight from Russia and his studies in England, he lived in the
1920s and '30s the hand-to-mouth existence of an

won

novels and poetry

great acclaim but brought

artist in
little

Berlin

and

His

Paris.

money, and he earned

his

keep by teaching Russian, English, and tennis, staying always in rented quarters.
Only with the publication of the then-sensational Lolita did his fortunes turn; but
he

still

rooms of others. ^ He and his wife. Vera, had been

was evident that they had melded into an efficient
tacitly conspiratorial marital alliance in which he was a

prefers to live in the

married nearly

fifty years. It

team, enjoying

a rather

own legend, and she was its devoted courtier and guardian.
At dinner he spoke interestingly of his work. I found it difficult to know him as a
The next day,
human being; he was as brilliant and involuted as his writing.
he arrived to be photographed. He is used to being sought out; he was correct.
Nevertheless, he left the impression that he must get back to his own room before
literary lion living his

his

wife had finished typing the

planned.

^ He

is

last bit

of manuscript. His

life

clearly

is

well

a lepidopterist, or butterfly scientist, of some distinction, and the

author of several

scientific

papers in this

field.

In

his

autobiography, Speak,

Memory, and elsewhere, he has written of the beauty of butterflies - the prismatic
quality of their colours, and the sensuous delight of arranging them in aesthetically
pleasing patterns. He brought with him to the sitting one particularly beautiful
specimen from his collection encased in plexiglass. ^ When we were done, he

me with a postcard on which that butterfly had been reproduced in full

colour. He did it with a flourish, as with a jewel. It was a remarkable gift - a
recognition, it seemed, that no matter how multi-faceted and polished any writing
presented

or portraiture might be, the fragile beauty of nature transcends

146

all

works of art.

VLADIMIR NABOKOV

V-''-.

:'^..
."'^'^;

r:~

'

'>', .t;

-.'?i'^i
,-it

-:

,-,-

^j:.--^Va^:v

Georgia O'Keeffe

American artist. Born 1887 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Studied at Art Institute of
Chicago (1904-5), Art Students' League, New York (1907-8), University of
Virginia (1912), and Columbia University (1914-16). Commercial artist, 1909;
supervisor of art for the public schools of Amarillo, Texas, 1912-14; instructor in

University of Virginia, summers 1913-16; head of art department. West

Texas State Normal College, Canyon, Texas, 1916-18. Has confmed activities to
painting since 1918. Became one of a group (including Marin and Dove) sponart.

sored by the photographer Alfred Stieglitz,

first

An

exhibited by

American

him

at

whom

she married in 1924. Pamtings

291 Fifth Avenue, and later

at the

Intimate Gallery and

Place. After her husband's death in 1946 she spent three years cata-

loguing his collection and distributmg

Since 1949 has lived in

flower painter, she

is

New

it

Mexico. Best

to

major centres

known

as a

in the

United

States.

highly original and daring

represented in the Tate Gallery, London, the Metropolitan

Museum of Art, New York

(which has also purchased a print of this photographic

and the museums of Brooklyn, Cleveland, Detroit, Springfield, Mass.,
and Washington, D.c.
portrait),

149

woman on

paper.' These were the words uttered by Alfred Stieglitz

saw the drawings of the artist (leorgia O'Keetie, whom he was later
came to Abiquiu, New Mexico, in 1956 to photograph this
to marry. When
remarkable woman who has so enriched American art, expected to fmd some of

'At

last,

when he

first

the poetic intensity of her paintings reflected in her personality, hitensity

found,

was the austere intensity of dedication to her work which has led Miss
O'Keerte to cut out of her life anything that might interfere with her ability to
express herself in paint. Her friend and fellow artist Anita Pollitzer has commented
perceptively on Miss O'Keefle: 'A solitary person, with terrific powers of conbut

it

centration, she

is

so

m love with the thing she does that she subordinates all else in

order to win time and freedom to paint.

She has worked out

...

considered pattern of life, so unvaried that the average person

it,

and she refused to allow anything to pull her away from

slightly in her

world.

...

Her

a simple, well-

would

it.

refuse to live

People figure very

decisions as to her use of time are very definite. Last

year [1949] she said to me: "I know I am unreasonable about people but there are
so many wonderful people whom I can't take the time to know." She says that even
in her student days she saw that dancing at night meant daytime lost from painting
- so she refused to dance although she loved it. She decides carefully on each point,

what

to

have and what to give up. There

have never

known

is

nothing weak about her willpower.

her to have any regrets or envy.'

^ As though to concentrate

her vision inwardly Miss O'Keeffe has banished colour from her surroundings.

Her adobe home, with wide windows on every side overlooking the mountains,
and almost completely empty of ornament, seemed stark to me, but when I asked
Miss O'Keerte why she chose to live in such a remote area she replied, 'What other
place

is

there?' In the

end

decided to photograph her

as

described her: 'Georgia, her pure profile against the dark

calm, clear; her sleek black hair

drawn

yet another friend had

wood

of the paneling,

swiftly back into a tight knot at the nape of

her neck; the strong white hands, touching and lifting everything, even the boiled
eggs, as if they
the black

150

were

living things - sensitive,

and white, always

this

slow-moving hands, coming out of

black and white.'

GEORGIA OKEEFFE

/^

>

Robert Oppenheimer

American

physicist (1904-1967).

Educated

at

Harvard, Cambridge, and Gottingen.

Professor of Physics, University of Cahfornia and Cahfornia Institute of Technol-

New Mexico, 1943-5; Chairman,

General Advisory Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission, 1946-52;

ogy, 1929-47; Director, Los Alamos Laboratory,

Director, Institute for

Award of the

Advanced Study, Princeton, 1947-66. Received

the Fermi

U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1963.

153

Dr. Oppenheiincr greeted ine warmly, in 1956,

Study, Princeton.

He remembered

that

at the Institute for

we had met

briefly before

an important conference to keep our appointment. But

left

famous

scientist a certain brittleness

and

and

Advanced

now he had

detected in this

thought that the record of deep suffering

was written plainly on his face. After his experiences, this was hardly surprising.
However, he proved most cooperative and, at my request, wrote down the names
of six scientists whom he considered the world's most outstanding. Then, after he
had finished, he smiled and added, 'If you asked me for a list tomorrow, most likely
I'd

give

you

a different one.

died recently.'

He

Anyway, some of the

greatest

men

of our calling have

particularly regretted the untimely passing of Enrico Fermi.

Hut the atmosphere of that

sitting

was not
hanging on

fascination an oddly shaped pork-pie hat

all

sombre. For

had noticed with

a peg, the last sort

of hat

on the head of a sober scientist. The story of that hat tells

us something of the other Oppenheimer. He had been presented, he told me, with
one of those huge ten-gallon cowboy hats from Texas and, thinking the brim far

you would expect

to see

with a pair of scissors. The result could hardly be called

was happy to see, however, that this scientist, harassed by
personal difficulties and by his knowledge of mankind's peril from the discoveries
of science, could make a joke of his own. Indeed, I asked him to wear this whimsical headpiece. He did so with a laugh and I photographed him thus to record the
But I was aware, of course, that the world of Oppenthinker's lighter side.
heimer, behind the genial smile and schoolboy joke, was something like a hundred
too wide, had cut
a sartorial

it

triumph.

down
I

away from my world, or that of any layman. One has only to read
some of his simpler speeches and essays to see that this man was probing not only
for a knowledge of scientific phenomena useful in our daily life but for ultimate
light years

truths explaining the mystery of all life. I could appreciate, however, his blunt
dictum on the future of man's life if human intelligence did not catch up with the
march of weapons. 'Far beyond disarmament,' he said, 'one has to envisage a world
of affirmative collaboration in the world's work between people irrespective of

nationality

...

the world has to be an open world in which, practically speaking,

secrets are illegal.'

sacrifice, his

154

own

~ To

such a world Dr. Oppenheimer made, not without great

unique contribution.

~-

ROBERTOPPENHEIMER

Pablo Picasso

Pseudonym of Pablo

Ruiz; Spanish painter (1881-1973). Born and educated in

Barcelona; a resident of France most of his adult life. Began to work in Paris in

1901; founded and led the Cubist School; designer for Diaghilev Ballet 1917-27;
Director of Prado Gallery, Madrid, 1936-9. Lenin Peace Prize, 1962. Among his
paintings are: 'Les Arlequins,' 'L'Aveugle,' 'La Famille du singe,' 'Massacre in

Korea,'

'War and

Max Jacob.

Peace,'

and

Also noted for

portraits

of Stravinsky, Cocteau, Apollinaire, and

his graphics.

157

'Picasso,' his friends

quite true.

had told me, 'doesn't

remarkable

artist,

who

care.' This, as

found to

my sorrow, was

kept the world of art on tip-toes and in a

state

of nervous exhaustion for years, he had the rare quality of simply not caring.
Especially about appointments. My own experience was different. When I reached
his home in tune for our arranged appointment in 1954 I found hnii out, but he
had been delayed by the arrival of relatives at the airport. When he arrived, we

made

At the

new appointment,

gallery

at a local gallery

found everybody

sceptical

where

about

his

ceramics were on display.

my appointment:

they assured

me

would be futile to set up my equipment since Picasso so seldom kept his

stood firm and, to everyone's amazement, the man
engagements. However,
whose every act was sensational caused yet another sensation by arriving exactly
on time. Moreover, he had dressed up for the occasion. His magnificent new shirt
made the attendants shake their heads in wonderment; whatever had come over
A final surprise was in store. Picasso declared that he had seen my
the old lion?
work and it interested him greatly. would have taken this for mere flattery, in
that

it

if he had not cited many of my portraits

which evidently he had remembered. The sitting went smoothly, yet I am sure
that such normality on his part was highly abnormal. '^ During a talk about his
work, Picasso argued that the true norm of art must vary with every artist. Each

atonement for the previous day's delay,

had

his

artistic

own

laws. For this reason he objected strenuously to the legend

anarchy. His

work was

constructive, not destructive.

He was

of

his

a builder,

people thought differently, that was because they didn't underwhat he was trying to do. He was in fact trying to express his vision of
reality and if it differed from other men's visions that was because any reality was
real only to one man. It differed, for better or worse, in every human mind. Art,
he said, began with the individual. Without him, there could be no art. With

not

a destroyer. If

stand

countless individuals there

158

would be

countless versions of art, of reality.

PABLO PICASSO

^--^^

u,^

Jean-Paul Riopelle
c.c.

Canadian painter. Born

One-man shows

in

in Paris,

Montreal

New

in 1923, but has lived in Paris since 1947.

York, and London; chosen for the Younger

European Painters Exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1953-4.

In 1961 his paintings were selected for showing at the 42nd Pittsburgh International
Exhibition (inaugurated by Andrew Carnegie to show 'old masters of tomorrow'); his works are in the Tate Gallery of London, the National Gallery of
Canada, and in many private collections. He received a Canada Council Medal in
1966 and was created a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1969.

161

After climbing the

stairs to his

class district in Paris,

robust fellow. There

in the guise

opened

is

found

top-floor

rooms

in the

of a rough-hewn

cavalier.

He welcomed

of wine, prelude to much good

a bottle

rue Frcmicourt,

working-

Canadian-born painter to be a very natural,

courtly and gallant quality about him - a born gentleman
this

painting hanging over the fireplace;

it

looked,

warmly and immediately

us

talk.

admired

remarked,

a circular

like a rosette in a

window. Riopelle had previously been amusingly critical of the

and he replied to me in the same vein. Jokingly, he said, 'I'll
tell you why
did that. Because my dealers insist on evaluating the price of a
canvas by the number of square inches in it; for the fun of it, I decided to confuse
them and paint one that is round.' -^ Riopelle had been experimenting with new
stained glass

established art critics

I

media, and
I

a piece

incorporated

ment has

it

of sculpture he had completed stood beside him

into the portrait. This print of this

dynamic

we

as

artist in his

been acquired by the National Gallery of Canada

since

photograph of

chatted;

environ-

as the first

newly-formed photographic archives. And Riopelle has

painted another round canvas, especially for the Karsh home near Ottawa.
Riopelle must be the fastest driver among the world's artists. To sit alongside him
their

as his liugatti careens

along the narrow gravel-strewn French roads

ingly exhilarating experience.

Mediterranean, drinking

them

in

~ He

enjoys his

life

in France,

Montmartre, and helping younger

the use of his studio and materials.

~ He

is

is

a frighten-

yachting in the

artists

considered by the art

by lending
critics as a

draws much sustenance from his French-Canadian

background, and remains drawn to Canada, which he visits frequently.
Riopelle's method of working is characteristic of the complete man. It is almost as if
'French' painter, yet he

still

his art

ing.

explodes from him.

Then

will

come

weeks; he will not

He

a period

eat;

will

go for weeks and even months without paint-

of intense, almost frantic

activity.

highly individual, textured interlacings of bright impasto.

compulsive urge

up energy

162

until

is

it

He

will paint for

he will not sleep; he will cover canvas after canvas with his

over will his labours also subside -

like a

Only when the

comet that has built

explodes across the sky.

JEAN-PAUL RIOPELLE

Albert Schweitzer

French missionary-surgeon, founder of Hospital

Born 1875

in

Upper

at Lambarene, Gabon (1913).

Alsace; educated at Universities of Strasbourg, Paris, and

Berlin; obtained degrees in philosophy, theology,

and medicine. Organist, J.S.

and an expert on Bach's music. Awarded Nobel
Peace Prize in 1952. Wrote many books, on his work in Africa, on Bach, on
religious subjects, and appeals for peace. Held many honorary degrees. Retired in

Bach Society,

Paris, 1903 -11,

1965 as Director of the Hospital

at

Lambarene and died

there the

same

year.

165

It

had taken

me

wondered how

long tune to meet

a
I

1954

when he was
all

CJrand Docteur.' For several years

home and

(now Gabon); then by good

Equatorial Africa

read

'le

should ever reach his

visiting his

home

luck,

town, Gunsbach,

had

Lambarcnc, French

hospital in

found myself

in Alsace.

in

France in

~ When one has

him from the distance, one fears

below the imagined image. But he was all one

Dr. Schweitzer's works and long admired

man may

that the actual

fall

imagined he would be. felt at once, as all men do, the presence of a conscious
Of course, he said,
and immense wisdom, the stronger for its utter simplicity.
my wife and I and my assistant must have lunch with him, and it was a luncheon
frugal in the extreme. But after luncheon we were served with excellent coffee
and I began then to get a glimpse of a universal mind which still had time for the
smallest human detail. This coffee, he explained, was made from beans five years
old. 'Coffee made from young beans is toxic. After the beans are about five years
I

old they are medicinal, in fact beneficial.'

~ What struck me from the beginning

was this man's power to concentrate his mind totally on the business at hand.
While the equipment was being prepared he went back to his writing as if he were
alone in the room and then, when I was ready, he gave me his full attention.
Of course a thousand questions were on my tongue and it was tantalizing to realize
that I would not have time to ask a fraction of them. While we talked I watched

Dr. Schweitzer closely, especially his hands.

They were the fine hands of a musician

wished to photograph him holding some books, preferably an

album of Bach, but he protested that to use Bach's music for this purpose would be
like 'choucroute garnie.' Accordingly, with a shy smile, he brought out some of

and

his

a healer.

own

books.

And

then he revealed

very

human

side,

'They make

by declining to be
look too old,' he

me

photographed while wearing his spectacles.

SchweitIt was, of course, my hope not so much to make the portrait that
said.
when
moment
unconscious
an
possible,
at
if
him,
catch
but
to
desire,
zer might
perhaps my camera might seize something of those qualities which made him great
as a doctor, musician, philosopher, humanitarian, theologian, and writer. The

picture printed here

tolerance,

and

was taken

in a

moment

of meditation.

~ Remembering his

asked

him how he thought

his ministrations to the African natives,

our time. Dr. Schweitzer looked

would be received if He were to appear

up at me and in his quiet voice repHed, 'People would not understand Him at all.
Which, then, did he consider the most important of the Ten Commandments?
He thought about that for a long moment, the granite face was illuminated, the
man behind the legend suddenly visible. 'Christ,' he said, 'gave only one Comin

Christ

mandment. And

j55

that

was Love.'

albert SCHWEITZER

^'^>i

-f-O-'^i^'vJ^
\'.
-^JT^

itvi

Hans

Selye
c.c.

Research
in

scientist, internationally

Vienna; studied medicine

noted for

at the

his studies

German

Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, 193

McGill University

of

stress in

humans. Born

University of Prague. Rockefeller

1.

Appointed

to the staff

in 1933, rising to associate professor. Since 1945, Professor

of

and

Director of the Institute of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, University of

Montreal.

Expert consultant to the Surgeon-General, U.S. Army,

1947-57.

American Foundation for High Blood Pressure.

Holds many honours. Has written and published over iioo scientific papers
Director, Scientific Council,

relating to his research as well as

(1974) and

Stress in Health

many

books, including Stress Without Distress

and Disease (1975).

169

your highest attainable aim, but do not put up resistance in vain.' When
my visit and photographic session with Dr. Hans Selye at the
of Experimental Medicine and Surgery of the University of Montreal,

'Fight for
I

returned from

Institute

found the above quotation on a little card he had tucked into the pre-publication
copy of his forthcoming book. The Stress of Life. He had inscribed the book to my
wife, Estrellita, a medical writer.
since

it

was the

le

knew

time he had explained

first

would find it especially fascinating,

complex theory of disease, the now-

she
his

famous concept of stress, in language the general reader could understand. ^ The
words, 'Fight for your highest attainable aim,' were the essence of our conversation, as Dr. Selye

animals, he and

took

his

'syndrome of being

me

through

his laboratories

many

research assistants

sick.'

He

where, using experimental

recalled his

were trying to find out about the

early days when, as an enthusiastic

immense possibilities
which he thought lay in the study of the 'non-specific damage' to body organs
which accompanies all diseases. In well-meaning heart-to-heart talk, the established
scientists had urged him to abandon this 'futile, dead-end line of inquiry.' No one
seemed to take seriously what had become the ruling passion of Dr. Selye's life:
to pursue his search for the mechanism by which Nature fights disease and other
One day, into his then-crowded little laboratory, came
injuries to the body.
Sir Frederick Banting, the renowned Canadian scientist and Nobel laureate,

young

investigator,

he tried to

interest older colleagues in the

co-discoverer of insulin. Sitting informally on Dr. Selye's desk. Sir Frederick

listened attentively and offered help in securing financial aid. Most of all, he offered

moral support. 'I often wonder,' mused Dr. Selye, 'whether I could have stuck
to my guns without his encouragement.' -- Dr. Selye explained to me that stress
comes not only from receiving bad news, or suffering an illness; happy emotions,
too - finding an exciting job, falling in love - are also stressful. As we finished our

his

tour,

prior to photography, an incident occurred

which caused him mixed

hallway outside his experimental laboratory he

has hung photographs of scientists and humanists who have inspired him, for in an
era of scientific iconoclasts. Dr. Selye refreshingly remains a hero worshipper.

emotions - and

stress.

Such luminaries
physician of the

my

favourites,

the portrait
to send

170

him

as

last

--

In the

Louis Pasteur and Sir William Osier, the most revered

hundred

years, lined his walls.

your portrait of Albert Einstein

was missing! The

first

thing

did,

...'

'And here,' he began, 'is one of

His voice trailed off in mid-air

upon

arriving back in Ottawa,

was

a replacement.

HANS SELYE

l\f\\

Ravi Shankar

Indian sitar player, teacher, and composer; the first Indian instrumentalist to gain
an international reputation and to introduce Indian music to the Western world.
Born in Benares, 1920. Among his many compositions have been scores for a
number of films, including Father Panchali, The Flute and the Arrow, and Charly.

Encounters in Paris with musicians

to his desire to introduce

United

States

who had no

to the West,

and

appreciation of Indian music led

he gave his first recitals in the

and the United Kingdom. Since then, his recitals and recordings
it

in 1956

have enjoyed increasing popularity in the West. He has taught at universities in

the United States, and in 1967 he opened a branch of his music school in Los
Angeles.

173

There was no

dirticulty in fmding the apartment occupied by Ravi Shankar in the

York hotel where he had invited me to meet him before our photographic
session. The fragrance of curry wafting through the corridor was guide enough. ^-'

New

had spent the previous evening

Lincohi Center.

He

played,

on

at a

the music of hidian ra^as, built

sitar,

on the basic melodies. The

one's enjoyment and understanding.

provisation

quickly established with his audience,

They were very

I

different

was accustomed

disciples

to

fmd

concert given by this Indian musician at

his ancient native stringed

from the

on exotic
artist's

No
who

instrument called the

notes, fresh with constant

verbal introductions added

less

fascinating

clustered

im-

much

to

was the rapport he

round him

after the concert.

traditionally dressed concert-going audiences

at that hall:

here was the youth of today, obviously

many Western devotees in recent

best-known among them including such musical extremes as the Beatles

of Shankar. His music has intrigued

years, the

Yehudi Menuhin, with whom he has cut records. -^

on a broad platform covered with Indian throws.
In my New York apartment, where we went for his portrait, I opened a table and
covered it with one of these throws. He immediately removed his shoes; barefooted, he climbed up and sat cross-legged, with his sitar. Next he took off his
wrist watch, as if to remove all traces of contemporary Western civilization, and
laid it beside him. He took a little container of oil and moistened the tips of his
and the

classical violinist,

Ravi Shankar performs

in public

And then he began to

He played for the rest of the
from New York; we were in

fingers with oil-soaked cotton, as he tuned the strings.

play.

He performed as

sitting

India,
his

if

my studio were a temple.

almost without interruption.

We

were

far

-^

enchanted by themes of summer, of darkness, of war, of love. All the time

remarkable, expressive face echoed the sentiment of the music.

It

was

a perfect

empathy of man and instrument.

174

RAVI SHANKAR

George Bernard Shaw

Irish

playwright, novehst,

critic,

and philosopher; one of the founders of the

at Ayot St. Lawrence, England,

Wesley College, Dublin, and received some training in music
and painting at home. Went to London, 1876. Began to come into prominence in
1885 as music critic (writing under the pseudonym Corno di Bassetto for the Star
and later the World), drama critic, book reviewer, and propagandist for socialism.
Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1925, His published works include some

Fabian Society, 1884. Born in Dublin, 1856; died

1950. Educated at

fifty plays

and many novels,

perhaps the plays

St. Joan,

essays, treatises, etc. Best

Dilemma, and Heartbreak House, and the essays The

Intelligent

Woman's Guide

known among

these are

Major Barbara, Pygmaliort, Arms and the Man, The Doctor's

to

Perfect

Wagnerite and The

Socialism.

177

Every obstacle was

in

my way when

begin with, his secretary

down

laid

met George Bernard Shaw in 1943. To

and quite impossible terms. I was to
man. There were to be no lights. could

first

drastic

have five minutes only with the great

was arguing vainly Shaw himself

use nothing but a
of
a young man, though he was then
the
energy
room
with
the
into
came bursting
almost ninety years old. His manner, his penetrating old eyes, his bristling beard,
'miniature camera.' While

and
--

crisp speech

Shaw

were

all

me and, in the beginning, they succeeded.

why should photograph him anyway.

designed to awe

he could see no reason

said

explained that the Ciovernment of Canada wished to have

in the

National Archives

at

good

portrait of

him

Ottawa. 'Since when,' he retorted, 'does the Canadian

a good picture when it sees one? And in any case why did they
Augustus
commission
not
John at a thousand guineas and make sure of the job?
If John did it, the job would be good - or at any rate everybody would think so.'
Plucking up my courage, suggested that perhaps had been assigned to make the
In the end I had all the time I wanted and I think
portrait for that same reason.

Government know

Shaw enjoyed
plays,

himself. For he

was

and he obviously loved to

a better actor
act.

than

many who

appeared in his

His favourite role seemed to be that of

sort of harmless Mephistopheles, or the grumpy wicked uncle with a heart of gold.
He
After he had tested me with preliminary terror we got along beautifully.
said I might make a good picture of him, but none as good as the picture he had
seen at a recent dinner party. There he had glimpsed, over the shoulder of his

hostess,

what he took

to be a perfect portrait of himself- cruel,

diabolical caricature but absolutely true.

and found

that living image,

peered

at

me

caught him

in

my

portrait.

he was looking into

that

quizzically to see if

He had pushed by

appreciated his

~ Later

little

you understand,

a mirror!

joke.

It

The

old

was then

on, a noted British journalist asked

which he proposed

the lady, approached

to have autographed

man

that

me

to

by Shaw.

prepare a copy of

this picture

To his chagrin, he

received the picture with Shaw's signature scrawled on the back

of

it.

that

When asked
my signature

distract

1-78

from

for an explanation

Shaw

should not distract from

replied:

my

'I

face.'

was careful to make sure

Nothing could, I think,

that face.

^^

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

0^^^]

':\

f-

mi.

Jean Julius

Sibelius

Finnish composer (1865-1957). Educated at Helsinki University and at Berlin and

Vienna Conservatories.
to retire

In 1897 Finland

gave him

a life grant

and devote himself to creative work. His music

is

on which he wzs able

profoundly individual,

and poetic in character. His works, among the best known of which are
and The Swan of Tuonela, include seven symphonies, a violin concerto,
about two hundred compositions for piano and over a hundred songs. Held many
honorary degrees.
national,

Finlatidia

181

One day whan was photographing an

I

rang. 'Helsinki
ruption.

'On

on the

line,* a

the contrary,'

official

of Shell Oil, London, the telephone

secretary said.

The

said, 'Helsinki

has a magic sound in

official

apologized for the inter-

my

ear.'

told

him of my long but thwarted ambition to photograph Sibelius. Wires were soon
humming, both telephonic and telegraphic, between the British and Finnish
found myself on the threshold of a simple house in
capitals and soon afterwards
I

Jarvenpaa, near Helsinki, a house built for Sibelius by a grateful nation, a shrine
The man who ushered me into his home in 1949 was
for all lovers of music.

well into his eighties, and near the end of his

wonderfully

alert,

and he told

me

life.

mind was
news of the world in

His hands shook but his

that he followed the

~ We

spent a leisurely day of photography punctuated, at intervals,

with breaks for coffee, cakes, and brandy. Sibelius would call for a toast and then
raise an empty glass. 'You see,' he explained, 'I never drink before dinner.' He
seemed to be a happy man full of infectious laughter. His little jokes were uttered
careful detail.

had no Finnish and he little English, but sometimes, stuck for a

in French, since
Towards the
word, he appealed to one of his daughters, who translated for him.
end of the day when Sibelius appeared fatigued 1 told him a little story. During
the Russo-Finnish war, I said, there were many Finns cutting- timber in the Canadian North and, hearing the dire news from home, they brooded and slackened
in their work. Production in the camps began to drop. The foreman, with sudden
I

of Finlandia and piped it to the loggers in the

woods. Immediately, the output of timber doubled. Sibelius rocked with mirth.
'You're fantastic!' he cried, 'One never gets tired working with you.' -^ I was
not satisfied with that day's work, however, and suggested another sitting. He
agreed, and I returned next morning when the portrait printed here was made. ^^
inspiration, acquired a recording

Before leaving

presented

him with

admirers in England. As Sibelius

offerings should have been

them

all

with delight.

five years

made

various

said,

at the first,

~ When he said

gifts

entrusted to

me by some

of

his

with another chuckle, these introductory

not the

good-bye

last,

moment. He accepted
tow-headed boy of

a barefoot,

appeared from nowhere, the composer's great-grandson, and stood

man with his hands clasped as if in worship. The sun poured over

before the old

young and the very old, destiny yet ahead and

Nothing could have done justice to the flaxen hair of the child,
the gentleness of the aged man. Some pictures are better left in memory alone.

the profile of these two, the very

destiny fulfilled.
to

182

-^^

JEANSIBELIUS

Edward Steichen

American photographer. Born in Luxembourg, 1879; family emigrated to the

United States when he was three. Studied painting in Paris for two years, and has
since spent periods

was

in

command

of his

life

of

U.S.

all

Served in both World Wars, and in 1946

Navy combat photography. He assembled 'The

in France.

Family of Man' exhibition, consisting of over 500 photographs, which opened in

January 1955 and in the next nine years was seen by more than nine million people
in 69 countries. Among his numerous awards have been the U.S. Camera Achieve-

ment Award

(1945, 1949,

and 1963), the Premier Award of the Photographic

Medal of Freedom

Society of Great Britain (1961), and the U.S. Presidential

(1964).

185

'To every branch of photography he has brought

portrait

graphic

own

his

inventive genius, and

my caption under the

of the venerable photographer, Edward Steichen, in my one-man photowas a young and
exhibition, 'Men Who Make Our World.' ^ When

pioneered in estabhshing photography as an

art.*

So reads

struggling photographer,

month

turned eagerly every

zine Vanity Fair for inspiration.

The

time

first

photographed

maga-

to his pages in the

this giant,

during

World War,

I was very nervous and Steichen, understanding this, was

During the intervening years Steichen's face took on the
was anxious to record what endless,
quality of an Old Testament prophet, and
restless experimentation, deep thought, and photographic innovation had etched.

the Second

especially encouraging.

~ The patriarch

of American photography was nearing his 90th year when this

was taken in 1967 at his home in West Reading, Connecticut. He was still
and vital, and he walked all the way to his greenhouses of prize-winning

portrait

erect

delphiniums to greet

us.

~ Steichen

stopped frequently to pet his two beloved

named Tripod, and an enormous

dogs, a soulful three-legged beagle appropriately

We

walked together around the property,

and Steichen knew and loved every leaf and tree. His botanical knowledge was
encyclopaedic.
Steichen's home is almost cantilevered over a small lake which
bumptious

wolfhound, Fintan.

Irish

me

reminded

of the

series

of paintings of water

ever photographed the French Impressionist?

replied. 'As a

young man

train ride to the

lilies

'How

by Claude Monet. Had he

strange

you

did once go to Monet's home.

ask,'

Steichen

took the long

country on an extremely hot summer day, lugging

many pounds

in Paris

of heavy camera equipment on

summon up

my back.

But

when

got to Monet's front door,

Three times I reached for the

bell rope, and three times I withdrew my hand. I was so intimidated by the
thought of that great man, I carried everything home again without a picture.' It
is remarkable to think that so daring a photographer could ever have been so

couldn't

timid.

and

me

that walk he took his first photograph in many years, of my wife

background of magnolia blossoms. On that occasion, I cheerfully
'camera assistant.' The late afternoon of our visit was grey and rainy.

During

against a

acted as his

My

the courage to ring the bell.

wife remarked,

'What

a pity

it is

not a beautiful day.' Steichen looked

compassion, touched her arm and, half-smiling,

with

infinite

life is

a beautiful day.'

^ Over dinner, we

at

her

day of
talked about the future of photography
said, 'Every

and about the education of young photographers in particular. Steichen said,

'Photography is both extremely difficult and extremely easy.' To set a lens opening,
to press a button - these are technical operations

mood or

and can be learned. But to capture

demands a creative insight and a searching eye. I too, have

always hoped that young photographers would cultivate an interest in the humanities and become well-rounded human beings. ^^ Two weeks later, there arrived
in the mail a gift from Steichen - three of his most famous original prints: the
definitive portrait of Greta Garbo with her hair pulled back, the montage of Rodin
contemplating his famous sculpture, 'The Thinker,' and the revealing portrait
of the tycoon, J. P. Morgan. Steichen's inscription I shall always treasure: 'With
remembrance of a fine day of work and play - with affection and devotion to my
distinguished colleague, Yousuf Karsh.'
a

186

inner spirit

EDWARD STEICHEN

y jj

//^X

John Ernst Steinbeck

American

novelist of

1902; died in
is

a reflection

coast;

had

he made
Prize.

Moon

his

German and Northern

December

Irish descent;

born

in California in

Much

of his work
of his native district, the Californian interior valleys and the Monterey
1968. Educated at Stanford University.

thorough knowledge of marine biology. Tried his hand at many jobs;

name in literature with Grapes of Wrath, which won the 1939 Pulitzer

Other books include:

is

Europe

Down,
as

East of Eden,

Tortilla Flat, Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, The

and The Short Reign of Pippin IV. In 1943, he went to

correspondent for the

he travelled extensively, writing

New

York Herald Tribune. After

articles

World War

11,

and reports for various magazines and

newspapers. Nobel Prize for Literature, 1962.

The American author who

writes of exceedingly earthy characters maintained in

The gate was opened for me, in 1954, by a butler in

black coat and striped trousers. '^ There were, however, difficulties in this impres-

Paris a very elegant address.

sive setting. Sunshine

poured into the room, curtains had

electricity supply, as usual in the eccentric

sufficient.

Moreover,

to be changed,

power system of

continuous stream of people poured through the

the author's wife, his children one after the other, and his secretary.

procession was interrupted for a

moment

seized the chance,

and the

France, proved in-

room

When

the

abandoned the French

current, and took this portrait with electronic lights. -^

little

during the

sitting.

His

mind was on

urgent questions brought by his secretary.

his
It

Mr. Steinbeck had talked

business and on the many

own

seemed

that a craftsman skilled in

revealing the character of other people guarded himself jealously

eyes - that here was a courteous but reticent

man who

from prying

did not wear his heart on

However, over refreshments served on the terrace, he thawed somewhat

and volunteered an amusing little story to prove, as he said, how difficult it sometimes is to be the wife of a celebrity. Mr. and Mrs. Steinbeck, it appeared, had been
entertained recently at a large reception of some sort when Zsa Zsa Gabor, the
impetuous movie star from Hungary and Hollywood, arrived in her usual flutter.
She caught sight of Mr. Steinbeck and rushed at him, oozing charm. 'But John,'
she purred, 'you are the one man I have wanted to meet for, oh so long!' Then she
his sleeve.

launched into what Steinbeck called

'a

very intimate conversation,' ignoring

endure this invasion no

Gabor and announced, in a cold
voice: 'Miss Gabor, I am Mrs. Steinbeck.' That, apparently, ended that. At the
recollection, Steinbeck permitted himself a rumble of laughter. I saw in him then
for the first time, a long way from his home, some of the qualities of the life in his

everyone

else

around

her. Finally, Mrs. Steinbeck could

longer. She thrust herself between Steinbeck and

books.

"^
190

JOHN STEINBECK

Igor Stravinsky

Russian-born composer. Born

St.

Petersburg 1882; studied law at

St.

Petersburg

University and music under Rimski-Korsakov. Naturalized French subject in

1934,

became

several

symphonies and concertos, and

48 years,

New

U.S. citizen in 1945, and died in

positions include: VOiseati de feu, Petrouchka,

he returned to

York City

in 1971.

ballet music. In 1962, after

his native land to

Com-

Le Sacre du printemps, Orpheus,

conduct

of the government of the U.S.S.R., and received

his

ow^n works

a hero's

at

an absence of
the invitation

welcome.

193

was said by his good friend Aldous Huxley that Igor Stravinsky was one of those
happy intellectual amphibians who seem to be at home on the dry land of words
or in the ocean of music. So found him. Hut his words were not dry, if that word
means dull. On the contrary, speaking in a free mixture of English and French,
It

he entertained

my

wife and myself in California, in 1956, with a one-man sym-

wise. ~ Hefore getting down to work, he said,

we must have refreshment and relaxation. Whether working or relaxed, Stravinsky

phony of conversation, witty and

does not exhibit any of the so-called

artistic

temperament. However, he did

rooms which could be used for photography. Indeed, the space at my

disposal was so small that I said I hoped in the next world I would enjoy a little
Like
more elbow room. To which he replied: 'Not only you, Mr. Karsh!'
some of the other composers have photographed, Stravinsky complained that
orchestra conductors in general never asked composers how their work should be
restrict the

They believed they knew better than the men who wrote it the proper
method of rendition. Yet most conductors didn't understand eighteenth-century
music at all. They thought even Bach should be played in a romantic style which
was never his intention. ~ Then Stravinsky took off, with acidulous eloquence,
about music critics. Few of them, he said, were really qualified fiiusicians, but they
had successfully created a cult of the conductor, regardless of merit. As a result,
many conductors had become little more than showmen. 'It's easier, you know,'
he remarked, 'to become a critic of writing or painting than of music. Everyone
can read or look at a painting but few of the music critics can read music properly.'
'^ He talked at length about music recordings which, he admitted, had improved
greatly in a mechanical sense. But that did not necessarily mean improved music.
Stravinsky was one of
Some of.the older records were by far the best musically.
the few creative artists I have met who have shown deep interest in their wives'
work. Madame Stravinsky, a painter of talent, was unfortunately absent at the
moment but Stravinsky observed, with obvious pride, that she was attending an
exhibition of her work at Santa Barbara. '^ He had a strong admiration also for
the artists of the written word. In his little library he showed me some photographs
of Tolstoi, Verlaine, T.S. Eliot, Aldous and Julian Huxley, and Virginia Woolf,
I also discovered that he admired and was a connoisseur of
among others.
tobacco. Wherever he went, he told me, he carried his own cigarettes, made by
In
an Armenian in the United States, of Turkish tobacco and English paper.

played.

everything,

expressed

homme

194

thought,

my own

n'est

this

man

pleasure in

is
it

a perfectionist, especially in his

work.

When

he quoted from Oscar Wilde in French: 'Un

vraiment intelligent que par son

travail.'

IGORSTRAVINSKY

ir^:

^:^

1
i

Helen Taussig

Born

1898. Paediatric cardiologist. Graduated in Medicine

from Johns Hopkins

University in 1927 and became a John D. Archbold Fellow of Medicine.

From

1930 to 1936, director of the Harriet Lane Cardiac Clinic. As head of the paediatric
cardiology group and because of her long interest in congenital heart disease, she

proposed to Dr. Alfred Blalock,

surgeon

at

Johns Hopkins, the development of

surgical procedures for the relief of pulmonary artery stenosis in cases

of Fallot. Thanks

measure to her

clinical judgment

of tetralogy

knowledge
world renown. Some
years later, alerted by a former student then practising in Germany, she investigated the German thalidomide disaster while its causes were still conjectural, and
was instrumental in averting a similar catastrophe in North America. Among her
honours: Master of the American College of Physicians, member of the U.S.
National Academy of Science, past president of the American Heart Association.
in large

of paediatric cardiology,

and

special

their 'blue baby' operation achieved

197

photographed Dr. Alfred Hlalock, the surgeon who developed the operawhich gives 'blue babies' a chance for life. That picture appeared in my earlier
book, Portraits of Croitncss. Twenty-five years later, photographed the remarkIn 1950

tion

able

was

woman who
at

suggested the surgical approach to him.

the Baltimore airport to meet

77, she remained an arresting

woman, with

a direct gaze, the quintessence

were greeted
and

of

At

peaches-and-cream complexion and

intellectuality, innovation,

home by two romping

her country

Dr. Helen Taussig

dogs,

and femininity.

We

gentle golden retriever,

dachshund called 'K.K.' (after Kleine Knabe, which means

German). 'The wonderful thing about dogs,' Dr. Taussig remarked

a capricious little

'Little

as

at

my wife and me and drive us to her home.

Hoy'

in

we made

friends with her pets,

'

is

that they

grow

old but they never

grow

up,

world-renowned
paediatrician.
Later, after lunch, she worried at length over what to wear for
her portrait, settling finally on a blue dress that matched her eyes. ^ Dr. Taussig's
father was a professor of economics at Harvard University, but since Harvard
and so they are eternally

children.' Rather

charming from

women

students until 1952 she took her first scientific

There her study of cardiology began when an
instructor threw an ox heart her way and said, 'Here! See what you can make of
this.' Later she enrolled in medicine at John Hopkins University, and never left,

Medical School accepted no

training at Boston University.

bringing additional honour to that great institution. -^ Three years after gradua-

was appointed director of the Harriet Lane Cardiac Clinic, the oldest
North America until it was torn down recently to make way
parking
lot.
There
her compassion was aroused by the tragic infants whose
for a
cells, because of a malformation of the heart, were so starved of oxygen that the
babies literally turned blue and, eventually, died. The Blalock-Taussig shunt which
tion, she

paediatric clinic in

she proposed gave these children a reprieve

further definitive surgical repair.

found her
survivors.

still

active, recording

Many,

teachers, social

she found, had

workers -

fighting for breath,

life

until they

were old enough

for

what had happened to the early 'blue baby'

gone into service occupations - doctors, nurses,

as if they,

would

on

^ Twelve years after her official retirement, we

who had

spent their infancy in hospitals

thus repay the gift of

life.

In the

new, beautifully

designed Helen Taussig Cardiac Clinic, she showed us around without

false

few days
before, and when the mother learned that it was Helen Taussig herself who was
examining her daughter, she was greatly touched. The mother told us that when
her little girl had been wheeled up to the operating room, the blanket had fallen
away and exposed an ankle that was deep blue. A few hours later, when the baby
modesty. The healthy child

in the portrait

had been

a 'blue

baby' only

was pink. To the mother it was the greatest miracle imaginable.

was wrong? If Harvard Medical School had admitted women
in 1920, Dr. Taussig and Dr. Blalock might never have been colleagues - and that
child, and thousands of others, might not be alive today.

returned, her foot

^ Who

198

is

to say she

^^^

HELENTAUSSIG

i-u'^:>'^.'

.>^'V''''^>

jr

*^^^ *

Tennessee Williams

American playwright. Born 1914; educated at Universities of Missouri, Iowa, and

Washington (St. Louis). Awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship in 1940 for playwriting; in 1943 received a $1,000 grant from the National Institute of Arts and
Letters and won Pulitzer Prizes in 1948 and 1955. His plays include: The Glass
Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tatoo, Cat on a
Hot Tin Roof, Camino Real, The Night of the Iguana; he has also written many
successful film plays.

Tennessee Williams' reply to

my

desire to

decided that the portrait should be

realize that this )ovial,

seldom

at peace.

photograph him was enthusiastic and

We met in his small New York apartment in

spontaneous, like his plays.

made

in his

own

homespun man contained

environment, and

tumultuous

talent

Superficially, the plot for this sitting - a sort

1956 and
I

came

and

to

soul

of minor play

comedian and the photographer

the master in the scene of his work,
as his
surrounded by his typewriter, his manuscript, and his ever present glass of Scotch.
Moreover, he seemed to be surrounded by invisible friends. His telephone was
rather

on the comic side, with Mr. Williams

had found
foil - was quite perfect.

as the

constantly ringing as

desire to co-operate with

pinch enabled

us,

the deliberate purpose of distracting me. '^ His obvious

if for

me and

the feigned calm

however, to deal with

can sometimes

invisible friends -

command

and some

visible

in a

ones -

and to get on with the portrait. -^ I asked him whom he considered the greatest
American actress. He mentioned no woman born in America but remarked that
Anna Magnani, the Italian, had acted in American movies and therefore might be
technically within

my

definition.

member of

greatest living

And

he

left

her profession.

It

no doubt
was

that he considered her the

for her,

he

said, that

he had

The Rose Tattoo. ^-^ At the moment he was working on Orpheus

Descending, which had been a failure on its first presentation. 'It was performed,'
he told me, 'only once, before a Boston audience, and the critics decided it should
At last the portrait was done
expire - and it did.' He was therefore rewriting it.
specially written

and when
like

showed

Williams' plays.

manner,

his

and carefree air reminded me of various characters

pen - ordinary-looking men hiding an unsuspected fury which

invariably erupts
rather shyly to

burning with
fellows.

some of my friends they remarked that it looked exactly

Perhaps. At any rate, the playwright's deceptive ease of

to

his informal speech,

made by

is

it

He

on the

me, and

a sense

of

stage, often in tragedy. ~'

he has written

as

and desperate

life

cannot communicate

a certain sense

of

it

social restraint

As Mr. Williams admitted

moments of candour, he is a man

to communicate it somehow to his

in

freely in conversation because, he says, there

even among friends meeting face to

the great, dark, faceless audience of the theatre he can at

any

reticence.

~ The public knows

nobility he can thus speak.

canic inward fire

hope

last

face; to

speak freely without

with what power and sometimes with what

this portrait catches at least a

which makes each of his plays

a sort

of

spark of that vol-

spiritual

convulsion and

leaves the audience limp with spent emotion.

202

TENNESSEEWILLIAMS

,A,-,sIf

jW

^
-tS.

Printed in Switzerland

Born

Mardin, Armenia, on December 23, 1908,

in

Yousuf Korsh
massacres.

grew up under

the horrors of the

1924 he was brought

In

uncle; after brief schooling

was apprenticed
pher noted for

Garo

,.

^.

Ottawa

in

in

cabinet ministers,

came before his lens.

made a memorable portrait of Sir

ne

Winston Churchill

symbolized

that

Britain's

unconquer-

able bulldog courage and that brought Karsh into

Some

national prominence.

years later

it

was used

commemorative stamps by

basis of Churchill
tries,-

1932.

visiting

er dignitaries

'

DeceiTioci

a photogra-

of Boston,

present studio

his

stC
In

his

Sherbrooke, Quebec, he

in

became known,

Armenian

Canada by

his portraiture.

Karsh opened

As

John

to

to

eleven other of

six

inter-

as the

coun-

have also appeared on

his portraits

postage stamps.
Portraits with the familiar
right

have appeared

and Karsh

in

"Karsh of Ottawa" copy-

publications

over the world,

all

been the subject of numerous articles

himself has

newspapers, popular magazines, and photographic

in

Who Make

"Men

books.

over one hundred Karsh

Expo '67 and

for

Our World," an
was

portraits,

museums

touring major

is still

exhibition of

initially

prepared
in

Europe

and North America.

Seven

have conferred honorary degrees

universities

upon Yousuf Karsh, and Ohio

Visiting Professor in the
first

photographer

Honorary Master

receive the

to

Canadian Academy

University appointed him

School of Fine

of Arts

and

Arts,-

Medal

the

first

of Photographic Arts

sional Photographers of

Canada.

In

he was the

of the Royal

to

be made an

by the Profes-

1971 he

was awarded

the Presidential Citation (U.S.A.) for meritorious service

on behalf of the handicapped.

Karsh's
tions of the

Museum
the Art

work

is

represented

Museum

of Art

Institute

in

of

Modern

in

the

Art

permanent

and

New York, The Philadelphia Art Museum,

of Chicago, the National Gallery of

ado, and other leading museums.

Jacket design by

NEW YORK
11

collec-

the Metropolitan

Beacon

Ann Lampton

Curtis

GRAPHIC SOCIETY
Street,

Boston 02108

Can-

Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin

Michael Collins
Neil A.

Armstrong

Muhammad

Ali

Marian Anderson
Joan Baez
Pablo Casals
Fidel

Castro

Marc Chagall
Prince Charles
Sir

Roppeita Kita

Jacques Lipchitz

Norman Mailer
Giacomo Manzu
Marcel Marceau
W. Somerset Maugham
Francois Mauriac
Marsh.all

McLuhan

Joan Miro

Henry Moore

Winston Churchill

Vladimir Nabokov

Jacques Cousteau

Georgia O'Keeffe

Michael

E.

Debakey

Albert Einstein

Robert Frost

Alberto Giacometti

Martha Graham
Ernest

Hemingway

Augustus John

Pope John
Yasunari

XXIII

Kawabata

Helen Keller

John

F.

Kennedy

Nikita Khrushchev

Martin Luther King,

Jr.

Robert Oppenheimer

Pablo Picasso
Jean-Paul Riopelle
Albert Schweitzer

Hans Seiye
Ravi

Shankar

George Bernard Shaw

Jean Sibelius

Edward

Steichen

John Steinbeck
Igor Stravinsky

Helen Taussig
Tennessee Williams

483222
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