The Currency Museum is offering its visitors a chance to explore the history of the Bank of Canada through the works of world-renowned Ottawa photographer, Yousuf Karsh.
The exhibit, Karsh at the Bank of Canada, opened earlier this month and will run until February 14.
According to Marc Trudel, visitor services co-ordinator at the museum, the exhibit features a series of Karsh photographs documenting the bank’s early years.
Also on display are the Karsh portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and William Lyon Mackenzie King, which were used for the 1954 Canadian bank note series.
The exhibit features Karsh portraits of the first three governors of the Bank of Canada, as well as photographs of ordinary bank employees going about their work.
One photo from 1948 features a woman inspecting sheets of newly printed $10 bills. Another, dated 1942, shows an employee at the entrance of the banking hall. The old entrance was eventually removed to make way for the Currency Museum.
According to Trudel, Karsh’s Ottawa studio was located on Sparks Street, close to the museum. “We wanted to celebrate the life of Karsh, and all of the masterpieces that he created,” he says.
While Karsh is mostly known for his portraits of famous people, the photographs in the exhibit feature lesser-known individuals. According to Trudel, this is exactly what makes the images so rare.
“There are not a lot of Karsh photographs on exhibit that show just ordinary people,” he says.
Phyllis Ross, who worked as an assistant to Karsh in 1940, says even though the subjects of the photographs were not famous, Karsh would not have allowed this to impact the quality of his work.
“He was a perfectionist,” says Ross. “He wanted everything done just absolutely right – it didn’t matter if they were famous.”
According to Ross, Karsh had a gift for drawing people out of their shell. “He was very charming, and he would get his sitters into a nice conversation,” she says. “They would relax and become very animated and interesting and then he’d snap. He was the best. Any of his portraits are worth looking at.”
According to Duncan McDowall, a history professor at Carleton University, the exhibit celebrates the success of Canada’s banking system.
“Over the last year, as so many American banks have collapsed and proved to be incompetent, the Canadian banking system, I think by almost universal agreement, has been one of the most durable and trustworthy in the world,” he says.