Harry Callahan was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He purchased
his first camera in 1938 and joined the camera club at Chrysler Motors,
where he worked.  Strongly influenced by a 1941 lecture and workshop
given by Ansel Adams, Callahan traded his enlarger for an 8 x 10 view
camera.  In 1946 Callahan was hired by László Moholy-Nagy to teach
photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago.  He taught at the
Institute until 1961, at which time he left for the Rhode Island School
of Design, where he taught until his retirement in 1977.

Throughout his career, Callahan explored a number of different
subjects.  Landscapes, city streets and pedestrians, and portraits of
his wife, Eleanor, received much of Callahan’s attention over the
years.  With a characteristic sharpness and a strong sense of design,
Callahan is known for his ability to transform his subjects into
arresting compositions of simplicity and grace.
 

Bib. Ref: Harry Callahan.  Sarah Greenough.  Washington, D.C.: National
Gallery of Art, 1996.
 

The Eastman House holds 91 photographs spanning much of Callahan’s
career, though over 70 of these photographs were made in the 1950s and
60s.  The 1940s are represented by 11 photographs (the earliest from
1941) and the 1970s represented by 7 photographs (the latest from 1974).

Callahan’s photographs of cities, both domestic and foreign, as well as
pedestrians comprise the bulk of the collection (60 photographs), with
25 of these made in Chicago.

Eleanor, Callahan’s wife, is pictured in 9 photographs, two of these
with their daughter, Barbara.  Landscapes and Callahan’s familiar nature
studies are represented by 13 photographs.  His experimental multiple
exposure work is represented in another 5 photographs.
 

The collection was formed from various sources.  Purchases from both
Harry Callahan and Light Gallery make up over half of the collection.
The remainder of the photographs came from a variety of sources,
including Rhode Island School of Design student portfolios.  One
photograph came from the collection of Katherine Kuh.

D. Wooters
8/00
 
 

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