Malak Karsh fonds [graphic material, textual record]

The fonds consists of the Canadian photography of Malak Karsh, through Malak Studio. The studio, whose sole photographer was Malak, produced commercial photo assignments, photojournalism and studio portraits, especially residents of Ottawa, Ontario and prime ministers of Canada. The vast majority of the collection consists of images of the Canadian landscape and Canadian activities Subjects covered include, Parliament Hill, and other national sites, pulp and paper, tourism and travel industries; the Tulip Festival in Ottawa, scenic views and tourist sites in Ottawa; local events in Ottawa; immigration, industry, architecture, parks and social and cultural activities from across Canada. During the Second World War, Malak also produced photography of the war effort at home. Malak worked primarily in black and white up to 1968; after this date, Malak worked almost exclusively with colour transparencies. This change in format also resulted in a new cataloguing system, begun at the same time, which is reflected in the finding aids. Please note that assignment numbers (for work dating before 1968)1 to 718 are nitrate negatives and are kept in the nitrate facility. From 718 onwards are safety negatives. The fonds excludes most foreign material, as well as the photographs Malak produced documenting the construction of the Museum of Civilization building in Gatineau, Quebec. It also excludes most of the tulip and flower photography which Malak produced for the Tulip Festival after c.1970 as well as for various bulb and flower producers. A representative sampling of c. 200 images from this body of work is included in the fonds.

Malak, 1915-2001: Born in 1915 in Mardin, Armenia (now Turkey), Malak Karsh attended American College in Aleppo, Syria and then studied two years with his famed brother, photographer Yousuf Karsh. He opened his first studio in 1941, producing several photo essays on the war effort for the Canadian government during the war years. He took his first photograph of tulips on Parliament Hill in 1946, a project he continued for the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa until the end of his life. During the 1950s and 1960s, such prominent newspapers and magazines as Saturday Night, Star Weekly, Globe and Mail, Ottawa Citizen, and the Montreal Standard commissioned Malak to cover all manner of subjects concerning the National Capital and Canada¿s industrial development. His numerous, widely known photo stories and publications have been instrumental in establishing the prestigious image of the region and its attractions for almost sixty years. Malak Karsh died at Ottawa in 2001. Contemporary photographer. Works located in: Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography; National Archives of Canada.

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1985-070 NPC
2014-00202-9
2019-00457-7
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1985-070 NPC