Istanbul's Pera Palace to Reopen and Seek Return to Glory Era
The main hall of Pera Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. AP Photo/Pera Palace.
ISTANBUL (AP).- It was the last stop on the Orient Express, a grand hotel with Istanbul's first electric elevator where artists and aristocrats sipped champagne beneath chandeliers as the Ottoman Empire dissolved and the world drifted toward war.
Mata Hari, accused of spying and executed in France in 1917, stayed at the Pera Palace Hotel. So did Greta Garbo, who played the shadowy dancer in a 1931 movie. Ernest Hemingway checked in to report on war between Turks and Greeks. Agatha Christie is said to have crafted "Murder on the Orient Express" in Room 411.
Then, like the empire it outlived, the hotel slid into decay.
On Sept. 1, the state-owned Pera Palace will reopen after a two-year restoration that cost 23 million euros ($30 million), seeking to capture the lost sparkle of what was one of Istanbul's most prominent landmarks. It is no longer the lone luxury hotel on a hill above the Golden Horn inlet. The former Ottoman capital teems with high-end accommodation, some in restored imperial mansions along the Bosporus Strait that divides the Asian and European continents.
Pinar Kartal Timer, general manager of the Pera Palace, believes fabled guests of the past will bestow new glory on the hotel, which held its opening ball in 1895.
"These people have left their traces in this hotel," Timer said in an interview in the 115-room hotel Wednesday. Major structural work and painting was complete, but the old ballroom was empty and the mother-of-pearl bookshelves had not been installed. Workers hammered, and layers of cardboard and plastic covered some balustrades and marble-floored passageways.
The Pera Palace mirrors the revival of the surrounding Beyoglu area, historically known as Pera, which comes from the Greek word for "beyond." It was nicknamed "Little Europe" in the late 19th century, an enclave of Greek and Armenian entrepreneurs, along with European diplomats and businessmen who imported luxury goods from capitals to the west.
Many local residents fled deadly unrest or moved to outlying areas, leaving neglected stone facades to brood in the narrow, trash-filled streets. In the last decade, shops and restaurants flooded the central neighborhood as economic fortunes and pride in Istanbul's heritage blossomed.
Mehmet Karaoren is a partner in an architectural firm that snapped up a dozen Pera buildings, restoring them and selling or renting the refitted apartments. In some years, the prices of their properties have doubled.
"In the beginning, this was a game for us. It became a business," said Karaoren, who sought inspiration for his restorations during travels to Paris, London and New York City.
A commission linked to Turkey's Culture Ministry bars changes that would taint the historical integrity of a structure, though allowances are made for reinforcement against earthquakes and the installation of elevators in tall buildings with dimly lit, winding staircases.
Business interests and a lack of political will have sometimes trumped the work of conservationists. Istanbul, home to relics and monuments from the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires, is at risk of being placed on a list of endangered cultural treasures by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee. That would be a serious embarrassment since the European Union designated the city as its "cultural capital" this year.
David Michelmore, an international conservationist, said unrestored sections of old Pera were at risk of demolition, and he compared the area to London's Notting Hill district in the 1960s, a shabby area before its successful rehabilitation.
"It's not tourists mostly, it's Turkish people who are going there," Michelmore said. "Historic centers have a huge capacity for serving purposes of recreation and relaxation."
The original owner of the Pera Palace was Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, which operated the Orient Express luxury train line. A Turkish conglomerate, the Besiktas Group, now manages the hotel. It has a modern spa and an indoor pool, as well as new elevators to supplement the original wood and cast iron one.
The building is a mix of styles distinctive to 19th century Istanbul — neo-classical, art nouveau and oriental. Rooms have handwoven carpets and antique furniture mixed with the new. Sixteen are suites named after guests including Britain's King Edward VIII and Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I.
Basic room prices start at 185 euros ($240), excluding tax and breakfast, but go higher in peak season. Ahead of the September opening, they are 265 euros ($350).
Nobody will sleep in Room 101. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a former army officer who founded Turkey in 1923, once used it as a base. The room will house a museum of items belonging to Ataturk, including hats, slippers and dignitaries' gifts.
The hotel hosted spies as well as statesmen. Kim Philby, the British-Soviet double agent, was nearly unmasked in Istanbul, and the agent codenamed Cicero, valet to the British ambassador in Ankara, visited as he sold secret documents to German agents in World War II.
A witness to tumult, the Pera Palace became a target in 1941 when a bomb exploded at the entrance shortly after the arrival of a British diplomatic party from Bulgaria, which had sided with the Nazis. Several people died.
Hemingway drank at the hotel's Orient Bar in the early 1920s. In his story, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," the main character, a writer, recalls a brawl over a woman with a British soldier in Istanbul. He slept with the woman that night:
"...and he left her before she was awake looking blousy enough in the first daylight and turned up at the Pera Palace with a black eye, carrying his coat because one sleeve was missing." By: Christopher Torchia, Associated Press Writer. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
The ceiling of the main hall in Pera Palace hotel is seen, in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, July 30, 2010. It was the last stop on the Orient Express, a grand hotel with Istanbul's first electric elevator where artists and aristocrats sipped champagne beneath chandeliers as the Ottoman Empire dissolved and the world drifted toward war. On Sept. 1, the Pera Palace will re-open after a two-year restoration that cost euro23 million ($30 million), seeking to capture the lost sparkle of what was one of Istanbul's most prominent landmarks. AP Photo/Ibrahim Usta
Yousuf Karsh, Georgia O'Keefe, c. 1956 & Ernest Hemingway, 1957
Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), Georgia O'Keefe, c. 1956.
Gelatin Silver Print. 20 x 16 in., print. 27 x 31 in., framed. 50.8 x 40.64 cm., print. 68.58 x 78.74 cm., Framed. Signed. Estimate: from $10,000 to $12,000.
A similar photo was sold for US $10,625 by Christie's New York: on Wednesday, December 17, 2008, (Lot 00131), Icons of Glamour & Style: The Constantiner Collection.
Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), Ernest Hemingway, 1957
Gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Stamped on verso. Printed after 1957. Estimate: from $1,500 to $2,000
Similar photos was sold recently for : US $13,200 by Swann Galleries, Thursday, October 22, 2009, (Lot 00196) Photographs & Photographic Literature ; US $4,560 by Swann Galleries, Thursday, May 14, 2009, (Lot 00270) Photographic Literature & Fine Photographs ; US $19,120 by Heritage Auction Galleries, Friday, December 12, 2008, (Lot 75122) Signature Vintage & Contemporary Photography Auction #5015.
Notes: Yousuf Karsh was born in Mardin, Armenia in December of 1908. During his childhood, Karsh witnessed the horrific Armenian massacres. In 1924, he was taken to Canada by his uncle where he was schooled in Quebec and afterward was an apprentice to the photographer, John Garo of Boston. In 1932, Karsh settled in Ottawa where he began his professional career. In 1943, Karsh was asked by the Canadian government to go to England to begin work on an international portfolio of world figures.
Karsh has been awarded honorary degrees from more than two dozen universities, Ohio University appointed him Visiting Professor in the School of Fine Arts, and Emerson University also appointed him visiting professor. He was awarded the Canada Council Medal in 1965; the Medal of Service of the Order of Canada in 1968; the Medal of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts; Honorary Master of Photographic Arts (Professional Photographers of Canada); Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain; and in 1971, the Presidential Citation (U.S.A.) for meritorious service on behalf of the handicapped. He has also been made a Companion of the Order of Canada (Canada's highest civilian honor). Karsh has presented a major collection to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Artnet Auctions. Thursday, November 19, 2009, 1:02 PM EST www.artnet.com/AUCTIONS
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) Portraits de l'écrivain, années 1950-1960
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) Portraits de l'écrivain, années 1950-1960
25 tirages argentiques des années 1950-1970. Cachets et mentions manuscrites au dos. Formats divers. Divers photographes dont John Bryson, Yousuf Karsh, Jean-Philippe Charbonnier. Divers sujets :l'écrivain en Afrique, avec Martine Carol, etc.
Vente du Vendredi 5 juin 2009. Photographies Anciennes, Modernes et Contemporaines. Piasa - Paris
"Karsh 100: A Biography in Images" @ the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA)
Yousuf Karsh, Ernest Hemingway, 1957
BOSTON.- The legacy of Yousuf Karsh—the man behind the lens of some of the 20th century’s most famous photographic portraits—is illuminated as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), presents Karsh 100: A Biography in Images. The exhibition of more than 100 works celebrating the 100th anniversary of Karsh’s birth (1908) presents his iconic portraits of the era’s most illustrious faces alongside rarely seen earlier photographs and little-known work. Karsh 100 will be on view September 23, 2008, through January 19, 2009, in the Rabb Gallery at the MFA. This exhibition is generously supported by the Government of Canada through the Consulate General of Canada in Boston.
“Yousuf Karsh had a special relationship with the MFA and Boston ever since his apprenticeship in the city in the late 1920s,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. “He thought of Boston as his spiritual home and the Museum as his ‘university’ where he studied light, composition and shadow. We are privileged now to be the major repository in the United States for his magnificent photographs, and delighted to share them with our visitors on the 100th anniversary of his birth.”
The exhibition features a visual biography of the photographer, who died in 2002. In addition to Karsh’s well-known images of 20th -century heads of state, presidents, scientists, artists, writers, musicians, and actors, the exhibition highlights the photographer’s early work. Canadian vignettes, landscapes, moods of cities taken on assignment for Maclean’s magazine of Canada, and those commissioned by leading Canadian industries, lent by the Karsh Collection at the National Portrait Gallery of Canada, are included. Also on display are photographs taken by Karsh for Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s book, This is Rome, and on location in South Africa for the 1963 movie “Zulu.” Personal letters, diaries, and photographs, and one of Karsh’s large-format (8 x 10”) studio cameras with lens, velvet cloth, and tripod, lent by the Canada Science and Technology Museum, give greater insight into his inner thoughts and method of working.
Karsh 100 features many of the photographer’s most renowned portraits, including Ernest Hemingway, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Winston Churchill. His portrait of Winston Churchill, taken during the British Prime Minister’s visit to Canada in December 1941, launched his 60-year career. The oft-told story of Karsh being granted two minutes to capture the essence of the impatient statesman—from whose mouth he “respectfully” plucked an ever-present cigar—is almost as familiar as the photograph itself. The outcome of that brief encounter is the bold and defiant portrait of a belligerent Churchill, which put a human face on the indomitable spirit of the British people during World War II. That image propelled Karsh onto the international scene. Photographing men and women of consequence in the world—the “giants of the earth,” as he described them—Karsh became the most sought-after portrait photographer of his time. “My desire was to photograph the great in spirit,” he wrote, “whether they be famous or humble.”
“Karsh’s name became synonymous with the highest level of photographic portraiture and being ‘Karshed’ was an honor for his sitters,” said Anne Havinga, Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Senior Curator of Photographs at the MFA, who curated the show. “This exhibition is intended to show the range of Yousuf Karsh’s work by including not only his famous portraits, but also the early efforts that led to the definition of his style and the special assignment work that he undertook once he had achieved international success. “. Forty seven images—most in black and white—of the era’s celebrated personalities line the perimeter of the gallery walls. Featured among them are: heads of state—Dwight Eisenhower, Nikita Khrushchev, Ibn Abdul Aziz Faisal, and Fidel Castro; scientists—Albert Einstein, Jacques Cousteau, Albert Schweitzer, and Edward Teller; artists—Pablo Picasso, Mies van der Rohe, Ansel Adams, and Georgia O’Keeffe; writers—George Bernard Shaw, Helen Keller, Carl Sandburg, and W.H. Auden; musicians—Jean Sibelius, Jessye Norman, Pablo Casals, and Paul Robeson; and actors—Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Angela Lansbury, and Boris Karloff. A display of Karsh’s early photographs, featuring his experiments with portraiture and theatrical lighting; bucolic scenes of Canadian life for Maclean’s; and images promoting Canadian industry, will be mounted at the center of the gallery to show the breadth of Karsh’s vision. Consultant to the exhibition is Jerry Fielder, Curator and Director, Estate of Yousuf Karsh.
Archival materials in Karsh 100 provide a personal view of the man behind the velvet-draped studio camera, revealing insights into Karsh’s personality, his approach to his work, and his friendships with his subjects. Featured are reminiscences written by the photographer about his sittings with Churchill and King George VI of England, as well as the transcript of his recorded conversation with Albert Einstein after a 1948 portrait session. Video from Morley Safer’s 1977 “60 Minutes” interview with Yousuf Karsh also is included within the exhibition.
More than Karsh’s courtly manner, meticulous preparation, and professional demeanor was his ability to forge warm personal relationships with his subjects. The German artist Josef Albers gave Karsh his painting Homage to the Square: Stele and Foliage (1964); sculptor Jacques Lipchitz created Head of Yousuf Karsh (1970) in tribute; and sculptor Emilio Greco presented to Estrellita Karsh, the photographer’s wife, Head of Estrellita (1970), the bust for which he asked her to pose. All three of these works from Mrs. Karsh’s personal collection are included in the show, as are other special mementos, such as diaries with notations about appointments Karsh had in Washington, DC, and Hollywood with the famous and powerful; and a self portrait of Karsh near a birthday photograph of Mrs. Karsh, showing the private side of the man who lived in a very public world.
Karsh’s photographic style was influenced by his early experiences in Canada and an important sojourn in Boston. Born December 23, 1908, in Armenia-in-Turkey, Karsh spent his childhood under the horrors of the Armenian massacres. In 1925, he was brought to Canada by his uncle George Nakash, a photographer, traveling alone for 29 days in steerage from Aleppo, Syria, where his family sought refuge, to Sherbrooke, Quebec. At 20, he was apprenticed in Boston to the eminent photographer John H. Garo. At Garo’s urging, Karsh often visited the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to study the works of the great masters, and found there the artistic nourishment he treasured the rest of his life. In the humanistic atmosphere of Garo’s studio, Karsh learned not only natural light photography; meeting and listening to Garo’s accomplished friends inspired the fledgling photographer to want “to portray, to interpret, to record the human spirit, the human soul.”
In 1930, Karsh returned to Canada, and two years later, opened his own studio in Ottawa. During this period, as a member of the Ottawa Little Theater, while observing theatrical lighting, his discovery of the dramatic use of artificial light was a revelation. In 1941, having already achieved local renown, at the request of his patron, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Karsh photographed Winston Churchill after his historic wartime speech before the combined Houses of Parliament. The portrait, chosen as the cover for Life magazine, became one of the most widely reproduced images in photographic history, setting in motion a long and distinguished career. In 2000, the international millennium edition of Who’s Who in the World named Karsh one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. He was delighted to learn that he had photographed more than half of those on the list. In honor of his centenary this year, Canada has commissioned three commemorative stamps: the photographer’s 1952 self portrait for mail to Canadian addresses, his famous photograph of Winston Churchill for international use, and his portrait of Audrey Hepburn for mail to the US.
Karsh’s quest—“to stir the emotions of the viewer” and “lay bare the soul” of his subjects—begun in Boston in the 1920s—ultimately gave him entrée to the most fascinating personalities of the modern age, taking him around the world on a photographic odyssey that spanned more than 60 years. In the mid 1990s, Karsh and his wife, Estrellita, relocated to Boston, his “spiritual home,” where he died on July 13, 2002, leaving behind a legacy as one of the 20th century’s most influential figures. In his final book, Karsh: A Biography in Images, the photographer summed up his career: “The endless fascination of these people for me lies in what I call their inward power. It is part of the elusive secret that hides in everyone, and it has been my life’s work to try to capture it on film. My quest has brought me great joy. It has kept me young in heart, adventurous, forever seeking, and always aware that the heart and the mind are the true lens of the camera.”
Yousuf Karsh has long been associated with the MFA. The young photographer studied works of art at the Museum during his apprenticeship in Boston with John Garo in the late 1920s. In 1968, the MFA was chosen as the first US museum venue for a Karsh exhibition. In 1996, the Museum organized Karsh Portraits: The Searching Eye, a major retrospective of 120 photographs. A gift of 199 photographs was given to the Museum by Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh between 1996 and 1998. The collection of predominantly black and white portraits by the internationally renowned artist spans more than 60 years and includes the most famous faces of the 20th century, including Mother Teresa, Bill Clinton, and Man Ray. An exhibition, simply titled Karsh, featuring 75 of the artist’s iconic portraits, was sent to the MFA’s sister museum, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Nagoya, Japan) in 2000. The Karshes established the annual Karsh Lectureship in Photography in 1997, and the Karsh Prize for Photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1999. In 2005, Mrs. Karsh also endowed the Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Curator of Photographs position. In 2008, she established the Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Assistant Curator of Photographs position at the MFA.
In addition to their close association with the Museum, the Karshes established an ongoing collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital, melding art and medicine—spiritual and physical healing. In 1998, their gift of 20 unique Karsh portraits of medical and scientific luminaries, titled “Healers of Our Age,” was installed at Brigham and Women’s Nesson Pike. Karsh’s portraits of artists and authors also grace the Bretholtz Center for Patients and Families at BWH. In 2006, Mrs. Karsh presented, in her husband’s memory, a collection of photographs featuring diverse women of accomplishment to the Gretchen S. and Edward A. Fish Center for Women’s Health, a BWH outpatient practice in Chestnut Hill. In July 2008, a Karsh collection was installed in the offices of Dr. Marshall Wolf in the new state-of-the-art Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center at BWH. Karsh, whose original desire was to be a doctor, was especially happy that his work brought comfort and solace for people to enjoy “in a special gallery that never closes.” Another realization of the Karshes’ vision is the 2005 “Bridge of Hope” mural project, conceived and organized by Mrs. Karsh, which transformed the corridor between BWH and Dana-Farber Cancer Center into a fantastic aviary of birds carrying medicinal herbs, creating an inspirational passageway for patients, staff, and visitors. The mural was created by Nan Freeman, a faculty member of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, with the help of student assistants.
In addition to Karsh 100: A Biography in Images, several other exhibitions will be offered around the world celebrating the photographer’s work. The Boston Public Library is mounting an exhibition of Karsh’s photographs this fall, Behind the Words: Literary Portraits by Yousuf Karsh, drawing from a collection of 57 Karsh portraits of literary figures donated to the Library by Mrs. Karsh. Other venues featuring exhibitions of Karsh’s work in 2008–2009 include: National Portrait Gallery, London; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL; Art Institute of Chicago; the Rhode Island School of Design; and the Art Gallery of Windsor, Canada.
Yousuf Karsh, Ford of Canada (surgeons), 1951
