Harry Callahan - Photographs New York Friday, April 5, 2024 | Phillips

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  • This early exhibition print of Callahan’s silhouetted study of his wife Eleanor presents a very different interpretation of this well-known image. This print has a highly nuanced tonality, showing a range of dark grey and black tones against the warm white background. While the tones of Callahan’s later prints of this image were restricted to almost pure white and absolute black—highlighting the image’s graphic qualities—this print conveys a sculptural sense of volume, effects furthered by its comparatively large size. 

     

    The Museum of Modern Art label on the reverse of this print suggests that it was considered for Diogenes with a Camera, curator Edward Steichen’s exhibition series begun in 1952. While Callahan’s work was included in the very first Diogenes exhibition, it was not included in the series’ second outing referenced on its label, although it may have been considered for it. Another possibility is that it was included in MoMA’s 1962 exhibition Harry Callahan and Robert Frank, which Steichen had initially intended as another installment in the Diogenes series until Frank insisted on a different title. 

     

    The Masonite flush-mount is characteristic of MoMA’s exhibition presentation in the 1950s and 1960s, which gave the prints a three-dimensional presence on the wall not typically associated with photography.  

     

     

    Read more about the collection

    • Provenance

      Ehlers Caudill Gallery, Chicago, 1994

    • Exhibited

      Diogenes With A Camera II, The Museum of Modern Art, November 1952 - March 1953

    • Literature

      El Mochuelo Gallery, Photographs: Harry Callahan, pl. 23
      Haus der Photographie/Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Harry Callahan: Retrospective, p. 75
      High Museum of Art, Harry Callahan: Eleanor, pl. 11
      Szarkowski, Callahan, p. 55

FIGURE + FORM: PHOTOGRAPHS FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION

333

Eleanor/Silhouette (Chicago)

1948
Gelatin silver print.
9 3/4 x 13 in. (24.8 x 33 cm)
Signed in ink and a Museum of Modern Art Diogenes With A Camera II exhibition label and Study Collection stamp on the reverse of the Masonite flush-mount.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$20,000 - 30,000 

Sold for $76,200

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs
skrueger@phillips.com
 

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Chairwoman, Americas
vhallett@phillips.com

Photographs

New York Auction 5 April 2024