Harry Callahan

flush-mounted to thin board and mounted again to Brudno illustration board, signed in pencil on the mount, 1940s

Acquired from Pace/MacGill, New York, 1987

This photograph is on paper with a very glossy surface. It is essentially in excellent condition. As is typical of very glossy prints, a number of minor inconsistencies can be seen in its surface when viewed in raking light, in which some areas appear to be slightly less glossy than others. Also visible in raking light are 3 minor pinpoint-sized indentations that do not break the emulsion. There is some very minor wear in the emulsion along the bottom edge. None of these issues is immediately apparent, and none of them intrude upon one's enjoyment of the print. The print is mounted to Brudno illustration board with an off-white front. The mount may have been trimmed by Callahan to its current 8-by-10 inch size – a not-uncommon practice for Callahan who frequently trimmed his mounts to fit into 8-by-10-inch photographic paper boxes for storage and transport. The print is dated 'circa 1942' in pencil in an unidentified hand on the reverse. When examined under ultraviolet light this print does not appear to fluoresce.
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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.

The abstract and inventive light study offered here demonstrates the extent to which Harry Callahan embraced experimentation early in his photographic career.  Callahan made several different types of light studies at points throughout the 1940s, even before his tenure at the Institute of Design (which began in 1946), where exercises with light were fundamental to László Moholy-Nagy's photography curriculum.  The image offered here was likely made in the following manner: in a darkened room, Callahan kept the shutter of his camera open while manipulating a flashlight in front of the lens to create the elegant curtain of luminous tendrils seen here.  Other similar-looking light studies were made by photographing the action of sunlight on water (cf. Greenough, p. 24).  Callahan chose a light study to illustrate the invitation for his first solo exhibition at the Seven Fifty Studio gallery in 1947 (see Lot 154). 

Callahan had begun taking pictures in 1938, in his hometown of Detroit; he joined the Chrysler Camera Club in that year and the Detroit Photo Guild in 1940.  While membership in these clubs put him in touch with other photographers and gave him access to technical information, their conservative outlook did little to inspire Callahan.  Exposure to work outside the limited confines of the camera clubs came in the person of Arthur Siegel, a fellow Detroiter who had studied photography under Moholy-Nagy (see Lot 139) at the New Bauhaus in Chicago in the late 1930s.  Returning to Detroit, Siegel set out to reform the stodginess of the local camera clubs, advocating technical and aesthetic experimentation and a rejection of the 'artistic' effects so frequently utilized by amateurs.  Siegel also promoted the use of glossy photographic paper over the more popular matte-surfaced, textured, and toned varieties. 

In 1941, Siegel arranged for Ansel Adams to conduct an intensive two-weekend workshop at the Detroit Miniature Camera Club.  Callahan participated, and the effect upon his work was immediate.  As John Pultz recounts in his essay 'Ansel Adams and Harry Callahan: A Case Study of Influence' (Ansel Adams: New Light: Essays on his Legacy and Legend, Friends of Photography, 1993), Callahan hounded Adams for information regarding his favored papers, lenses, and chemistry.  Seeing Adams's five-image Surf Sequence at the workshop was for Callahan a formative experience.  Callahan also caught Adams's keen appreciation for music.  The encounter with Adams broadened the young photographer's horizons regarding photographic technique and aesthetics, and introduced him to an artistic world beyond photography. 

It is a testament to Callahan's belief in his own talent that his admiration of Adams did not lead him to imitate his mentor's work.  Indeed, Callahan's mastery of the craft of photography progressed hand-in-hand with his technical and aesthetic experimentation.  Within the first decade of his work with the medium, Callahan had explored photography's flexibility in ways that Adams – innovator though he was –never had, producing abstractions, multiple exposures, and light studies, such as the one offered here.