Eleanor, Chicago
1956
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
sheet (trimmed to image): 16.4 x 16.3 cm (6 7/16 x 6 7/16 in.) mat: 35.56 x 27.94 cm (14 x 11 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ann Solomon
Accession Number
2000.172.4
Art Historical Context
Harry Callahan's *Eleanor, Chicago*1956) captures an intimate moment amid the bustling urban landscape of mid-century Chicago. A pioneering photographer and educator at the Institute of Design (formerly the Bauhaus-inspired New Bauhaus), Callahan often turned his lens on his wife, Eleanor, blending personal tenderness with abstracted cityscapes. This gelatin silver print, a hallmark of black-and-white photography for its rich tonal gradations and fine detail, exemplifies his experimental approach during the post-World War II era, when photographers elevated the medium to fine art. The nearly ...
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...