Harry Callahan

mounted on printed card stock, a label typed with the address of 'George Kepes' on the reverse, 1947 (Light and Vision, frontispiece)

Collection of Merry Renk, a proprietor of Seven Fifty Studio gallery, the venue for Callahan's first solo exhibition in 1947

Acquired by the present owners from the above

The Art Institute of Chicago, Taken by Design: Photographs from the Institute of Design 1937-1971, March - May 2002, and traveling to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, July - October 2002; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, December 2002 - March 2003

This photograph is printed on paper with a glossy surface and is in fine condition. When the photograph is examined closely in raking light, faint and sporadic cracklure can be seen on its surface. This is not visible when the print is viewed straight-on, and does not affect the fine appearance of this print. The card stock is clean and fresh-looking. This invitation, while intended for the photographer Gyorgy Kepes, was never folded and never mailed, and this accounts for the especially fine condition of both the photograph and the card. The typed mailing label on the reverse reads: 'george [sic] kepes m. i. t. cambridge, mass.'
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.
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This is the announcement for Harry Callahan's first one-man exhibition held at the pioneering Chicago gallery Seven Fifty Studio in November of 1947.  Not only was this Callahan's first solo exhibition, it was also the first exhibition of photographs by an Institute of Design faculty member. 

The Seven Fifty Studio gallery was opened in the spring of 1947 by two Institute of Design Students, Merry Renk and Mary Jo Slick, along with their roommate Olive Oliver, all of whose names are listed on this printed announcement.  Slick and Renk had both studied under Callahan at the Institute and been inspired by his belief in the artistic possibilities of black-and-white photography.  As Renk relates in an unpublished memoir of those years,

'He [Callahan] agreed to have an exhibit in our gallery in November.  We designed a large card folded in half with the printed announcement on the inside on the right. . . One hundred of these announcements had an original photo glued on the inside on the left that Harry had made by drawing with the flashlight beam onto light sensitive paper.'

The announcement offered here is notable for not having been folded or mailed.  While the address label on the reverse indicates that this was to have been sent to the photographer Gyorgy Kepes, it was never posted. 

Callahan's exhibition was, for its time, a success, and the gallery sold fifteen of his photographs.  Although critical attention for the exhibition was scant, within six months his work had been brought to the attention of Edward Steichen at The Museum of Modern Art, who included Callahan in group exhibitions in April and July of 1938, and in a four-person exhibition in December 1948 and January 1949 (along with Bill Brandt, Lisette Model, and Ted Croner).