Harry Callahan 1912-1999

mounted to thin cream-colored board, matted, 1958-59

This early print is in generally very good condition. Visible in raking light are a number of small deposits of the photographer's retouching, and a few very small impressions in the print's surface. There is one small pin-point sized break in the emulsion at the center right of the image. This is extremely hard to see and blends in seamlessly with the whites of the image. The edges have been rubbed, and there are a number of small chips and losses of emulsion. There is faint silvering along the periphery. The photograph is mounted to a thin cream-colored board. The mount has light surface soiling. The mount and the print have a slight wave in the center, which is visible when looking at the print from an angle. There is a single pinhole at the edge of each of the print corners. The mount edges are distressed, with light rust spots, and a few small holes from framing brads. When examined with a black light, this print does not 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.

Harry Callahan was hired to teach photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago in 1946 by his friend and fellow Detroiter Arthur Siegel (see Lots 64 and 65).  When Siegel resigned as head of the Photography Department in 1949, Callahan succeeded him, and held the post until 1961.  Callahan was responsible for hiring Aaron Siskind (see Lots 43-47, 50, 53, 55, and 57-58) as an instructor in 1951.  Like Siegel, Siskind, and Frederick Sommer (see Lots 48, 62, 69, 70, 72, 74, and 76-78) -- all fellow instructors at the ID, and all represented in the pages of the present catalogue -- Callahan approached photography with an adventurous spirit.  His thorough exploration of the medium led him to experiment with multiple-exposures, photomontages, color, and, as is seen in the photograph offered here, abstraction.       

While his approach to photography was wide-ranging, his work is always marked by a quiet restraint.  In critic Janet Malcolm's perceptive review of a 1978 exhibition of Callahan's work at Light Gallery she writes: 

'Harry Callahan has produced some of the purest and most austere abstract photography of our time.  His career is one of those monuments to dedication and work and care and belief in self that command respect even where they do not induce love.  His spare abstractions of marsh grasses, telephone wires, and weeds in snow which look like nervous-lined modern drawings; his photographs of architectural facades which look like Mondrians; his surrealistic superimposition of his wife's torso on grassy fields; his abstract closeups of the anxious faces of people on the streets of Chicago - all have established his reputation in modern-art circles and reflect his connection with the painterly tradition of photography' ('Photography,' The New Yorker, December 4, 1978, pp. 225-234).