Multiple Exposure Trees
1945
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print mounted on paperboard
Dimensions
sheet (trimmed to image): 11.2 x 8.1 cm (4 7/16 x 3 3/16 in.) mount: 25.4 x 20.3 cm (10 x 8 in.) mat: 45.72 x 35.56 cm (18 x 14 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ann Solomon
Accession Number
2000.172.1
Art Historical Context
**Multiple Exposure Trees**, created by Harry Callahan in 5, exemplifies the innovative spirit of mid-th-century American photography. Callahan, a pioneering figure associated with the experimental photography scene at Chicago's Institute of Design, captured this gelatin silver print—a classic black-and-white medium prized for its rich tonal gradations and fine detail—using a multiple exposure technique. By exposing the negative several times without advancing the film, he overlaid translucent images of trees, blending natural forms into rhythmic, abstract patterns that evoke movement and dept...
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...