Online Auctions
For assistance, call US +1 877 388 3256 EU +49 30 2091 7850
> Send to a Friend > Share > Print
Lot ID: 14744
Yousuf  Karsh:   Bernard L. Madoff (two portraits)
 
Opening Bid
US $X,XXX 
place bid
Current Bid
US $X,XXX 
place bid
Sold For
US $X,XXX 
Premium
Winning Bid
US $X,XXX 
Purchase now
US $X,XXX 
purchase now
Purchase now
US $X,XXX 

purchase now
 
(no reserve)
 
(reserve not met)
 
(reserve met)
artnet charges a 10% buyer's premium on all winning transactions
Estimate
US $3,000 - $5,000
End Time
Thursday, September 24, 2009, 1:00 PM EST
History
X Bids
 
 
make an offer
High Bidder
BidderScreenName
 
 
You are now the high bidder.
 
You have been out bid.
Your current maximum bid is $Y,YYY.
Congratulations, you are the winning bidder!
The seller will contact you regarding payment and other details.

Your maximum bid of $Y,YYY was placed on Nov 21, 2009
The auction has ended.

Your maximum bid of $Y,YYY was placed on Nov 21, 2009
The auction has approved.
Description
Artist: Karsh Yousuf
Title: Bernard L. Madoff (two portraits)
Style: Contemporary (ca. 1945-present)
Period: 1980s
Medium: Photographs, Silver print, two gelatin silver prints
Year: 1988
Print/Casting Year: 1988
Size: height - 10 in, width - 8 in, depth - 0 in
Markings: unsigned, Stamped on reverse "COPYRIGHT THE FOLLOWING CREDIT LINE MUST BE USED © YOUSUF KARSH" with date "1988" and the number 13 hand written in pencil.
Edition: n/a
Estimate: from $3,000 to $5,000

Seller's Description:
Yousuf Karsh photographed Bernard L. Madoff in a private sitting in 1988. The print for sale is an 8x10 [25,4 x 20,3 cm] silver gelatin print with the Karsh copyright stamp on the back and was most likely made at, or soon after, the time of the sitting. This actual photograph was reproduced in Vanity Fair in the June 2009 edition accompanying an article written by Madoff's secretary of more than 20 years, Eleanor Squillari. Ms Squillari refers to it specifically in the article: "Once, he gave me a picture of him taken by Karsh, the famous Canadian photographer, saying, 'Here, hang this over your bed.'"

We are including a copy of the edition of Vanity Fair in which it was published and an unmarked copy of an alternative image by Karsh from the same sitting, which is also an 8x10 silver print .

Yousuf Karsh (December 23, 1908 – July 13, 2002) was a Canadian photographer of Armenian heritage, and one of the … accomplished portrait photographers of all time. Yousuf or Josuf (his given Armenian name was Hovsep) Karsh was born in Mardin, a city in the eastern Ottoman Empire (currently in Turkey). He grew up during the Armenian Genocide. At the age of 14, he fled with his family to Syria to escape persecution. Two years later, [he was sent] to live with his uncle George Nakash, a photographer in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Karsh briefly attended school there and assisted in his uncle’s studio. In 1928 Nakash arranged for Karsh to apprentice with portrait photographer John Garo in Boston. Karsh returned to Canada four years later [and] established a studio in the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, close to Canada’s seat of government. Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King discovered Karsh and arranged introductions with visiting dignitaries for portrait sittings. Karsh's work attracted the attention of varied celebrities, but his place in history was sealed on 30 December, 1941 when he photographed Winston Churchill after Churchill gave a speech to Canadian House of Commons in Ottawa. …The image of Churchill brought Karsh international prominence, and is claimed to be the most reproduced photographic portrait in history. In 1967, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and in 1990 was promoted to Companion. In the late 1990s [Karsh] moved to Boston and on July 13, 2002, [at the age of 93] Karsh died after complications following surgery. He was interred in Notre Dame Cemetery in Ottawa. Journalist George Perry wrote in the British paper The Sunday Times that "when the famous start thinking of immortality, they call for Karsh of Ottawa." His work is in permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada, New York's Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, Bibliotheque nationale de France, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the National Portrait Gallery of Australia and many others. Library and Archives Canada holds his complete collection, including negatives, prints and documents. His photographic equipment was donated to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. Karsh published 15 books of his photographs.(wiki)
  • Condition Report
    • The seller has recorded the following condition for this lot:

      Description: Creases
      Location: Other location
      Area: Margin
      Degree: Minor
      Notes:
      Three minor creases. No visible breaks in the emulsion.
      Description: Tears / Punctures / Holes
      Location: Verso
      Area: Other area
      Degree: Minor
      Notes:
      A very slight scuff on the back which is not visible from front and does not affect the print.

      Definition Key

  • History & Provenance
    • Provenance:
      From Bernard L. Madoff to Eleanor Squillari, his secretary.

      Exhibition:
      n/a

      Publications:
      Vanity Fair Magazine, June 2009 edition.

      Karsh, Yousuf, 1908-2002. Yousuf Karsh : heroes of light and shadow / edited by Dieter Vorsteher and Janet Yates / with texts by Lilly Koltun, Sara Stevenson, Rosemary Donegan, Jill Delaney, Mary Panzer. Toronto ; Niagara Falls (NY) : Stoddart, 2001.

      Karsh, Yousuf, 1908-2002. Karsh : a sixty-year retrospective / Yousuf Karsh. Boston : Little, Brown, 1996.

      Karsh, Yousuf, 1908-2002. Karsh : American legends : photographs and commentary / by Yousuf Karsh.
      Boston : Bullfinch Press, c1992.

      Karsh, the art of the portrait : essays / by James Borcoman ... [et al.]. Ottawa : National Gallery of Canada, 1989.

      Karsh : a fifty-year retrospective / Yousuf Karsh. Boston : Little, Brown, c1983.

      Karsh, Yousuf, 1908-2002. Karsh portraits / Yousuf Karsh. Boston : New York Graphic Society, 1976.

      Karsh, Yousuf, 1908-2002. Faces of our time. Toronto, Buffalo, University of Toronto Press [1971]

      Karsh, Yousuf, 1908-2002. In search of greatness; reflections of Yousuf Karsh. New York, Knopf, 1962

      Karsh, Yousuf, 1908-2002. Portraits of greatness. [London, New York] T. Nelson [1959]

      Karsh, Yousuf, 1908-2002. Faces of destiny; portraits by Karsh. Chicago, New York, Ziff-Davis Publishing Company; London, George G. Harrap Co., Ltd. [1946]
  • Shipping Information
    • Shipping Carrier:
      FedEx, UPS, USPS
      Shipping Weight: 2 lbs
      Framing: No
      Item Location: New York, USA
  • Payment & Return Policies
    • Accepted:
      Wire transfer, Check, Money Order, PayPal

      artnet Assurance Policy:
      Every artnet Online Auctions seller has been approved by artnet after a thorough review. All of our sellers are required to accept the following artnet policy: A buyer may return an item purchased through artnet Online Auctions, if the item received is not as described in its listing, or is found to be not authentic. Please see our full Return Policy for details.

Sales Results for Comparable Work

  • Yousuf Karsh
    The painter George Braque, 1949
    ferrotyped gelatin silver print
    7.2 in. x 9.0 in. / 18.4 cm. x 22.8 cm.
    True

    Sold for US $3,913

    Galerie Bassenge:
    Wednesday, June 17, 2009, (Lot 04443)
    Photography

  • Yousuf Karsh
    Grey owl,
    gelatin silver print
    6.2 in. x 7.8 in. / 15.8 cm. x 19.8 cm.
    Signed

    Sold for US $6,900

    Hodgins Art Auctions:
    Tuesday, May 26, 2009, (Lot 00317)
    Fine Art Auction

  • Yousuf Karsh
    George Bernard Shaw, 1943
    gelatin silver print, mntd
    6.1 in. x 7.7 in. / 15.5 cm. x 19.5 cm.
    Signed, Stamped

    Sold for US $3,050

    Bonhams New York:
    Tuesday, May 19, 2009, (Lot 00053)
    Photographs - simulcast in LA & SF

To view additional information about these lots or to search Yousuf Karsh's artworks in our illustrated online database of 3.8 million auction results culled from over 500 of the leading international auction houses, please subscribe to artnet's Price Database.
CLOSE X
CLOSE X
CLOSE X

Art Market Data

Yousuf Karsh Price Development
  • More About this Chart

    • The chart shows the annual average premium prices of lots sold by the artist, which are calculated by dividing the total sales volume of the premium prices of all lots sold by the number of lots sold. For 2009, the data included in the calculations is current through the 15th of June. The charts will be updated every three months.

      The data is culled from the artnet Price Database, which has collected auction sales results for over twenty years.

      Prices are stated in USD in order to facilitate comparison and analysis of the market reports. When sales took place in another currency, the conversion of that amount into USD was done on the basis of the average conversion rate applicable on the day of the sale.

      Although most auction houses these days report transactions in prices that include a buyer’s premium, some auction houses report only the hammer price. Based on an analysis of historical auction catalogs, we apply a formula to all records with hammer prices to estimate the effect of a buyer’s premium. All prices used in the charts are either reported in or equated to hammer price plus buyer’s premium.

CLOSE X
Photography Price Development
  • More About this Chart

    • The chart shows the annual average premium prices of lots sold within a certain collecting category, which are calculated by dividing the total sales volume of the premium prices of all lots sold by the amount of lots sold. artnet defined peer groups or artists representing certain collecting categories. To be included in artnet’s peer groups, artists need to have sold either at least 10 lots at USD 10,000 or more, or at least 40 lots at USD 5,000 or more, or at least 3 lots each year since 2006 of which at least 2 were sold over USD 5,000. Our Photography art peer group consists of 445 artists. For 2009, the data included in the calculations is current through the 15th of June. The charts will be updated every three months.

      The data is culled from the artnet Price Database, which has collected auction sales results for over twenty years.

      Prices are stated in USD in order to facilitate comparison and analysis of the market reports. When sales took place in another currency, the conversion of that amount into USD was done on the basis of the average conversion rate applicable on the day of the sale.

      Although most auction houses these days report transactions in prices that include a buyer’s premium, some auction houses report only the hammer price. Based on an analysis of historical auction catalogs, we apply a formula to all records with hammer prices to estimate the effect of a buyer’s premium. All prices used in the charts are either reported in or equated to hammer price plus buyer’s premium.

CLOSE X
To view additional information about these lots, please subscribe to artnet's Price Database.
< Back to listings