CALLAHAN HARRY (1912 1999) Weed Aix en Provence

Sale 2170 - Lot 78

Unsold

Estimate: $ 7,000 - $ 10,000

CALLAHAN, HARRY (1912-1999)
"Weed, Aix-en-Provence." Silver print, 9 1/2x7 1/2 inches (24.1x19.1 cm.), with Callahan's signature, in ink and a label for the 1963 Rhode Island Arts Festival Invitational Exhibition taped on mount verso. 1958

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Additional Details

Callahan''s Providence address label and the title, date, and notations "This print may not be exhibited outdoors" appear on mount verso as well as the original price, $40.

By descent from an instructor at the Rhode Island School of Design, where Callahan taught; to the present owner.

Harry Callahan (Barcelona), 63.

Without the customary trail of journals, notes, or letters, Harry Callahan''s body of work remains appealingly elusive. A photographer who believed in the medium''s power of description and who hesitated to ascribe meaning to his own images, Callahan''s photographs nonetheless seem to reveal the inner sensibility of the photographer himself. City streets, broad landscapes, and his family all fell under his gaze, each imbued with his unique and sophisticated perspective.

Callahan bought his first camera in 1938 and studied engineering (including a brief stint at the Chrysler Corporation) before becoming inspired by luminaries such as Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz and Ansel Adams to pursue photography. Self-taught, by 1946 Callahan received an invitation from Laszlo Moholy-Nagy to join the staff of the Institute of Design in Chicago. In 1961 he became the chairman of the photography department at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he taught until 1977.