Churchill Portrait Disappears in Art Heist in Canada

In a news release, the Fairmont hotel said that it had informed the local authorities of the picture’s disappearance, and, as a precautionary measure, had removed other photographs that were hanging in the reading lounge of the building.

“We are deeply saddened by this brazen act,” said Geneviève Dumas, the hotel’s general manager, adding that the hotel was incredibly proud to house the Karsh collection. In an interview with CTV News, she said that the public had sent in photographs of themselves in front of the famous image, which revealed that it had been taken sometime between December 25 and January 6.

The hotel is asking anyone who saw or noticed anything unusual at the hotel during that time to contact them, Ms. Dumas added.

Mr. Fielder, the director of Mr. Karsh’s estate, said the print was an original made from the original negative by Mr. Karsh in his Château Laurier studio. He said it was 20 by 24 inches, printed on photographic paper and mounted on archival board.

When Mr. Karsh closed his studio in 1992, his negatives were given to Library and Archives Canada, he said. No copies were allowed, Mr. Fielder said; the only prints in existence were those made by Mr. Karsh himself before 1992.

The Ottawa Police are investigating the disappearance, according to the CBC. The authorities did not respond to a request for further comment on Tuesday.

Another signed copy of an original print of Mr. Karsh’s “Roaring Lion” photograph was sold for $62,500 at a Sotheby’s auction in 2020.

The famous picture that Mr. Karsh took of Churchill came after the photographer was invited by Mackenzie King, the Canadian prime minister, to hear Churchill’s “electrifying” speech to Parliament on Dec. 30, 1941. Mr. Karsh, eager to photograph Churchill, had set up his lights and camera the night before, according to Mr. Karsh’s website.

Churchill was apparently taken aback.

“What’s this, what’s this?” he barked as Mr. Karsh flipped on the floodlights.

Though irritated that he hadn’t been told about the photo session, Churchill lit a cigar and told Mr. Karsh that he had one shot.

Mr. Karsh held out an ashtray but Churchill kept puffing.

“Forgive me, sir,” Mr. Karsh recalled saying as he snagged the cigar.

“By the time I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent he could have devoured me,” Mr. Karsh said. “It was at that instant that I took the photograph.”

While Mr. Karsh said he knew that he had taken an important picture, he could “hardly have dreamed that it would become one of the most widely reproduced images in the history of photography.” In 2016, the image went on to be featured on the British five pound note, according to the International Churchill Society.

Mrs. Karsh said it was “a sad and stupid thing” to steal the photograph. “I hope they apprehend the person.”

She said that it was amazing that these many years later, the Churchill portrait still resonated.

The power of her husband’s images, she added, was that they captured the person behind the mask, including Churchill.

“The relationship and the bond that he shared with many of his sitters made them lose their numbness in front of the camera,” Mrs. Karsh said.

“They allowed him to see, if only for a moment, which he caught, something real in them, something authentic,” she added. “The main element in his relationship to his sitter was trust.”