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Description: CALLAHAN, HARRY (1912-1999)
"Chicago." Silver print, 7 1/2x9 1/2 inches (19.1x24.1 cm.), with Callahan's signature, in pencil, on recto. 1950; printed early 1970s

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Condition: All items are offered for sale subject to Swann Galleries' standard terms and conditions of sale, which are published in our catalogues.

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Notes: From the Light Gallery; to the present owner in 1978-1979.
Harry Callahan (1967), 65 and back cover.
Harry Callahan (1996), 73.
Harry Callahan: The Photographer at Work, 73.
Harry Callahan (2000), 71.


Harry Callahan's immediate environment was the source of his personal vision. "I have always lived in simple places… I find beauty in the landscape in the Midwest. I feel that, instead of photographing a sand dune, I can photograph a footprint in the sand; instead of a mountain, a dense group of trees."


Callahan's photography ushers the viewer into an intimate world, one that is quiet and unassuming. This landscape displays a seamless elegance through his adept use of compositional elements such as geometric line as well as cropping, repetition, contrast of light and shadow, graphic silhouettes and multiple exposures.


A self-taught photographer, Callahan did all of his own darkroom work including processing negatives and making photographic prints. Unlike his teacher, Ansel Adams, he did not consider himself a master of the darkroom and often claimed to have little knowledge of chemical formulas, failing to make many technical notes that other photographers would refer to when reprinting a particular image. Despite this, his photographs demonstrate masterful technical skills and a refined sensitivity.


The iconic "Chicago" marries his tender Midwestern sensibility with a recognition of crafting the print. The pure black, delicate lace-like appendages of the trees, set against the soft gray environment, all grounded by the crisp white of the snow, evoke the solitude and subliminal beauty of an average winter day that could not be dramatically translated as convincingly by many other photographers.