Cape Cod
1972
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 23.1 x 23.7 cm (9 1/8 x 9 5/16 in.) sheet: 27.8 x 29 cm (10 15/16 x 11 7/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Joyce and Robert B. Menschel
Accession Number
1994.93.4
Art Historical Context
Harry Callahan's *Cape Cod* (1972) captures the essence of the artist's lifelong fascination with the natural world through a precise, almost abstract lens. A master of modernist photography, Callahan—often linked to the New Bauhaus movement and his influential teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design— this gelatin silver print during a period when he frequently explored coastal landscapes. The nearly square format (23.1 x 23.7 cm) reflects his signature compositional style, emphasizing harmony and subtle geometries in everyday scenes. Gelatin silver printing, a traditional black-and-whi...
About the Artist
Harry Callahan
Harry Morey Callahan (1912–1999) was a pioneering American photographer whose self-taught ingenuity transformed everyday scenes into profound visual poetry. Born in Detroit, Michigan, he briefly studied engineering at Michigan State University before working at Chrysler, where he joined the company camera club. In 1938, Callahan took up photography as a hobby, but a 1941 lecture by Ansel Adams ins...