Youssef Karsh’s world-famous portrait of Winston Churchill has vanished without a trace from the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa.
The hotel is famous for having a great exhibition of some of Karsh’s most famous portraits, but a very attentive hotel employee suddenly noticed something strange in Churchill’s picture.
He was surprised that the frame of the 80-year-old picture was different from the pictures hanging next to it.
The hotel quickly contacted Jerry Felder, who is in charge of Karsh’s business, and had no doubts: the signature on the photo had been forged.
– I’ve Been Looking At This Signature For 43 Years And It Only Taken Me A Second To See That Someone Tried To Copy It, Says Felder Watchman.
Photographer: Youssef Karsh Photo: AP / Alex Brandon / NTB
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Thus the hotel claims that someone has substituted the original image of Churchill and replaced it with a copy. They don’t know when this should have happened, but when Felder visited the hotel in 2019, he had no doubt that it was the original commentary in the lobby.
I couldn’t believe someone would do such a thing. It has been there for a long time and has been a huge part of the hotel. Felder says it’s awful and very sad CBC.
Police in Ottawa were immediately notified and they are now investigating the case as a possible theft.
Churchill’s photo was taken in 1941 when Churchill addressed Parliament in Ottawa during World War II. Karsh himself donated a portrait of Churchill and fourteen other famous portraits to the hotel in 1988.
– We are deeply saddened by this shameless theft, the hotel wrote in a statement.
Karsh, who died in 2002, was known as one of the best portrait photographers of the 20th century and a portrait of Churchill was his achievement.
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