Detroit (Reeds in Water)
1942
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 8.5 × 11.5 cm (3 3/8 × 4 1/2 in.) sheet: 10.5 × 13.5 cm (4 1/8 × 5 5/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of Kyle Roberts)
Accession Number
2015.19.4663
Art Historical Context
Harry Callahan's *Detroit (Reeds in)*, created in 1942, a serene moment amid the industrial grit of wartime Detroit. This early gelatin silver print—measuring a modest 8.5 × 11.5 cm—showcases the photographer's emerging fascination with everyday natural forms. Shot during Callahan's time in his hometown, where he began experimenting with the camera just a few years prior, the image transforms simple reeds into an abstract study of line, reflection, and texture against rippling water. As a cornerstone of mid-20th-century American photography, Callahan bridged straight photography with modernis...
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...