Marble
University of Notre Dame
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New York

Date

ca. 1968

Creator

Harry Callahan

Location

Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

Harry Callahan created an intellectual photographic style, based on an understanding of how the medium differs from human perception. The son of a farmer turned factory worker, he learned the rudiments of photography in the employee camera club at the Chrysler Corporation in Detroit. In 1946 Callahan joined the faculty of the Institute of Design in Chicago (ID), then under the direction of László Moholy-Nagy. Encouraged that artist’s "New Vision," he combined Modernist elegance with technical finesse. He became head of the ID photography department in 1949, and soon hired Aaron Siskind. The interchange between the two, and Modernist vision and an extemporaneous Expressionist style generated a distinctive school of photography at the ID. This photograph reflects Callahan’s experience of twentieth-century urban life, a visual adventure of geometric form on a monumental scale, rather than a disheartening unnatural ordeal of alienation. from Touchstones of the Twentieth Century: A History of Photography at the University of Notre Dame (exhibition, 2020-21)

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Harry Callahan created an intellectual photographic style, based on an understanding of how the medium differs from human perception. The son of a farmer turned factory worker, he learned the rudiments of photography in the employee camera club at the Chrysler Corporation in Detroit. In 1946 Callahan joined the faculty of the Institute of Design in Chicago (ID), then under the direction of László Moholy-Nagy. Encouraged that artist’s "New Vision," he combined Modernist elegance with technical finesse. He became head of the ID photography department in 1949, and soon hired Aaron Siskind. The interchange between the two, and Modernist vision and an extemporaneous Expressionist style generated a distinctive school of photography at the ID. This photograph reflects Callahan’s experience of twentieth-century urban life, a visual adventure of geometric form on a monumental scale, rather than a disheartening unnatural ordeal of alienation. from Touchstones of the Twentieth Century: A History of Photography at the University of Notre Dame (exhibition, 2020-21)
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  • Harry Callahan created an intellectual photographic style, based on an understanding of how the medium differs from human perception. The son of a farmer turned factory worker, he learned the rudiments of photography in the employee camera club at the Chrysler Corporation in Detroit. In 1946 Callahan joined the faculty of the Institute of Design in Chicago (ID), then under the direction of László Moholy-Nagy. Encouraged that artist’s "New Vision," he combined Modernist elegance with technical finesse. He became head of the ID photography department in 1949, and soon hired Aaron Siskind. The interchange between the two, and Modernist vision and an extemporaneous Expressionist style generated a distinctive school of photography at the ID. This photograph reflects Callahan’s experience of twentieth-century urban life, a visual adventure of geometric form on a monumental scale, rather than a disheartening unnatural ordeal of alienation. from Touchstones of the Twentieth Century: A History of Photography at the University of Notre Dame (exhibition, 2020-21)
  • Harry Callahan created an intellectual photographic style, based on an understanding of how the medium differs from human perception. The son of a farmer turned factory worker, he learned the rudiments of photography in the employee camera club at the Chrysler Corporation in Detroit. In 1946 Callahan joined the faculty of the Institute of Design in Chicago (ID), then under the direction of László Moholy-Nagy. Encouraged that artist’s "New Vision," he combined Modernist elegance with technical finesse. He became head of the ID photography department in 1949, and soon hired Aaron Siskind. The interchange between the two, and Modernist vision and an extemporaneous Expressionist style generated a distinctive school of photography at the ID. This photograph reflects Callahan’s experience of twentieth-century urban life, a visual adventure of geometric form on a monumental scale, rather than a disheartening unnatural ordeal of alienation. from Touchstones of the Twentieth Century: A History of Photography at the University of Notre Dame (exhibition, 2020-21)
Harry Callahan (American, 1912 - 1999)
ca. 1968
Photographs
Gelatin silver print on mount
1993.041.001
façades
flagpoles
reflections
skyscrapers
urban
windows
© Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York
Not on view, please request access
20 x 15 in. (50.9 x 38.1 cm)
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Norval Green, by Exchange

Our collection information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. If you have spotted an error, please contact Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at RMMACollections@nd.edu.