Leonard Cohen portrayed by Jean Marc Carisse

LEONARD COHEN

PHOTOGRAPHS BY
JEAN-MARC CARISSE

Over a twenty-five-year period, Queen's Golden-Jubilee Medal Recipient Jean-Marc Carisse served as official photographer to a trio of Canadian leaders, Prime Ministers Trudeau, Turner, and Chrétien. After graduating with a BA in Visual Arts from the University of Ottawa, the intrepid Canadian snap-shooter travelled extensively across the Americas and Europe and, in the process, photographed hundreds -- if not thousands -- of musicians, artists, politicians, celebrities, and dignitaries of all persuasions, Leonard Cohen, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Rudolf Nureyev, Yousuf Karsh, Annie Lennox, Tom Waits, B. B. King, Mother Theresa, David Bowie, Paul Butterfield, Robert Charlebois, Jimmy Connors, Fats Domino, Marianne Faithful, the Dalai Lama, Wayne Gretsky, the Kinks, Diana Krall, Queen Elisabeth, Mario Lemieux, Al Pacino, Maurice Richard, Frank Sinatra, the Rolling Stones, Gordie Howe, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Bob Dylan among the most illustrious of same.

Carisse's collection also includes both candid and formal portraits of Pope John Paul II, every U.S. President from Gerald Ford to William Clinton, Presidents Francois Mitterand, Nelson Mandela, Boris Yeltsin, and Fidel Castro, not to mention every Canadian Prime Minister from John G. Diefenbaker to Paul Martin.

Many of these images may be viewed by visiting Carisse's website, www.carisse.org; and, for those fortunate enough to visit Ottawa, Canada, the photographer's work adorns several of the Canadian capital's most prestigious halls and parliamentary walls. Additionally, his work has featured prominently in various documentaries, has graced the covers and complemented the contents of numerous world-class journals, periodicals (Maclean's, Paris Match, Time, and books (including his own, Privileged Access with Trudeau, Turner, and Chrétien, 2000).

His professional relationship with Canada's most-beloved Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, one of mutual regard and respect, led to his final memorable moments with the Canadian icon eight weeks before his passing. Trudeau agreed to a final shoot at the Montréal law office where he'd long worked, Heenan Blaikie, choosing his own poses (as he had done so many times before). It proved to be his final official sitting, a fitting tribute to both the photographer and the prime minister he adored, the same prime minister who had requested Leonard Cohen be selected as one of his pall bearers (click to see the photo).

- Judith Fitzgerald

These photographs of Leonard Cohen in Concert in Ottawa
were captured by Jean-Marc Carisse 9 May 1985.

© Jean-Marc Carisse.
Visit the artist's website, www.carisse.org.

Patricia and Jean-Marc Carisse have also a photo gallery-café in Ottawa.
It's called Carisse Studio Café and located at 495 Sussex Drive,
in downtown Ottawa,with many photos of Pierre Trudeau,
Leonard Cohen etc. on the walls.

All Rights Reserved. Used by generous permission of the artist. Duplication, reproduction, storage, or transmission of any of these images in whole or in part in any medium without the express written permission of the copyright holder is strictly forbidden.