Eleanor, Chicago
c. 1954
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print mounted on paperboard
Dimensions
sheet (trimmed to image): 19.4 x 24.3 cm (7 5/8 x 9 9/16 in.) support: 20.2 x 25.1 cm (7 15/16 x 9 7/8 in.) mat: 35.56 x 45.72 cm (14 x 18 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ann Solomon
Accession Number
2002.148.18
Art Historical Context
Harry Callahan's *Eleanor, Chicago*c. 1954) captures an intimate portrait of the artist's wife, Eleanor, set against the urban backdrop of mid-century Chicago. As a gelatin silver print—trimmed precisely to the image and mounted paperboard—this modest 19.4 x 243 cm photograph exemplifies the technical precision of black-and-white photography from the era. Gelatin silver prints, popular in the mid-20th century, exceptional tonal range and sharpness, allowing Callahan to render subtle textures and atmospheric depth with remarkable clarity. Callahan, a pioneering modernist photographer and educa...
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...