Harry Callahan

mounted to Brudno illustration board, signed in pencil on the mount, 1948

Pace/MacGill, New York, 1987

Another print of this image:

Julian Cox, Harry Callahan: Eleanor (High Museum of Art, 2007), cover and pl. 9

This print is on paper with a semi-glossy surface and is in essentially excellent condition. When examined closely in raking light, a faint crease can be seen in the lower left quadrant that was either present in the print prior to mounting or occurred during the mounting process. There is a very slightly raised point in between the subject's ear and the left edge of the print that is likely due to a tiny particle trapped between the board and mount. Neither of these condition issues is immediately apparent, and neither has an impact on the overwhelmingly fine appearance of this impressive print. The print is mounted to a large (15 by 13 inch) sheet of Brudno illustration board indicating that it was almost certainly intended for exhibition. The board has an off-white front, and shows only very faint age-darkening at the extremities. There is some minor soiling on the reverse. When examined under ultraviolet light, this print does not appear to fluoresce.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This photograph of Callahan's wife and muse, Eleanor, was made relatively early in the photographer's teaching career at Chicago's Institute of Design.  Callahan had been hired in 1946 by fellow Detroiter Arthur Siegel, who had himself been hired by László Moholy-Nagy.  Moholy-Nagy's inventive curriculum for photography at the New Bauhaus, as it was then called, promoted experimentation with light, above all, and exploration of the medium's flexible nature.  None of this was new to Callahan in 1946, who had been conducting his own quiet inquiries into photography's possibilities since the early years of the decade. 

Early prints of any of Callahan's images from the 1940s are scarce, and the double-exposure offered here may be the only early print of the image extant.  As is typical of the 1940s prints, the photograph is mounted onto Brudno illustration board, which was manufactured by the Brudno Art Supply Company in Chicago.  A later print of this image was reproduced on the cover of the High Museum of Art's catalogue for its 2007 Harry Callahan: Eleanor exhibition.  This latter print, from the Nicholas Pritzker Collection, is not signed and is believed to have been made in the 1970s or 1980s. 

As in so much of Callahan's work, this photograph crosses several boundaries.  It functions as a portrait, although its abstract elements would seem to undermine a portrait’s objective.  And the literal and direct presentation of Eleanor prevents it from being a pure abstraction.  By 1948, the year in which this image was made, Callahan had worked extensively with multiple exposures and numerous other experimental techniques.  Here the technique is relatively straightforward: two images are merged together, either as an in-camera double exposure, or through the pairing of two separate negatives in the darkroom.  The result is a multi-layered image, evocative and enigmatic, that is beyond category. 

Avid and inspired experimentation was a hallmark of Callahan's work throughout his career, as was his rigorous devotion to the craft of photography.  In a 1977 interview, Callahan said of experimentation, 'I always wanted to try a lot of different things.  For example, multiple exposures were something I really liked.  I made them early on and continued. . . Everything just builds on everything else' (Salvesen, Harry Callahan: The Photographer at Work, p. 182).