id: 151925
accession number: 1984.20
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1984.20
updated: 2025-07-02 11:20:06.677000
Detroit, 1941. Harry Callahan (American, 1912–1999). Gelatin silver print; image: 17.3 x 23.6 cm (6 13/16 x 9 5/16 in.); paper: 20.2 x 25.2 cm (7 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.); matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, In memory of Sol Bauer, 1984.20. © Harry Callahan, courtesy PaceWildensteinMacGill, New York
title: Detroit
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creation date: 1941
creation date earliest: 1941
creation date latest: 1941
current location:
creditline: In memory of Sol Bauer
copyright: © Harry Callahan, courtesy PaceWildensteinMacGill, New York
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culture: America
technique: gelatin silver print
department: Photography
collection: PH - American 1900-1950
type: Photograph
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catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Harry Callahan (American, 1912–1999) - artist
Harry Callahan American, 1912-1999
Detroit native Harry Morey Callahan is recognized as one of the most influential American photographers and teachers of the second half of the 20th century. A self-taught photographer, he became interested in the medium in the late 1930s while working in the accounting department at Chrysler Corporation. He joined the Detroit Photo Guild and in 1941 was greatly inspired by Ansel Adams, who was invited to give a workshop and lecture at the guild.
In 1944 Callahan took a job with the General Motors Photographic Laboratory and two years later began teaching photography at the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, in Chicago. He headed the institute's department of photography from 1949-61, then left to establish the photography department at the Rhode Island School of Design. Callahan served as head of the photography program at Rhode Island until 1973 and continued teaching there until his retirement in 1977.
Interested in photography as a means of self-expression, Callahan's subjects have ranged from an ongoing series of his wife, Eleanor, to landscapes, seascapes, nature studies, and street scenes. He has also experimented with high-contrast images as well as double exposures, and since his retirement has focused on color work. Among his awards are fellowships from the Graham Foundation (1956) and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1972). His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including one-artist shows at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1976), the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson (1984), and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1996). Callahan lives in Atlanta. M.M.
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measurements: Image: 17.3 x 23.6 cm (6 13/16 x 9 5/16 in.); Paper: 20.2 x 25.2 cm (7 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.)
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inscriptions:
inscription: Written in pencil on recto: "Harry Callahan [signed]"; in pencil on verso: "Harry P. Callahan [signed] Detroit 1941"; "76"; "42 1/2 cms wide / page 78"; "5-33"
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Year in Review for 1984
opening date: 1985-04-03T05:00:00
Year in Review for 1984. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 3-May 5, 1985).
title: American Space: Landscape Photography 1900-1950
opening date: 2001-01-06T00:00:00
American Space: Landscape Photography 1900-1950. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 6-May 23, 2001).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'CMA 1983: Harry Callahan Photographs, November 15-December 31, 1983, no cat.', 'opening_date': '1983-11-15T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'CMA 1985: "Year in Review 1984," Bulletin 72 (April 1985), p. 201, no. 32. repr. p. 196.', 'opening_date': '1985-04-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; January 3-May 23, 2001. "American Space: Landscape Photography, 1900-1950."', 'opening_date': '2001-01-03T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1984.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 2 (April 1985): 163–207.
page number: Mentioned: p. 201, no. 32; Reproduced: p. 196
url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25159897
Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.
page number: Reproduced: P. 117
url:
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IMAGES