"Eleanor and Barbara, Chicago"

gelatin silver print

signed (pencil) on recto

As with many artists, his own wife played a central role in Harry Callahan's work. As his muse, Eleanor played, posed and aged in front of his lens. Callahan repeatedly photographed his wife together with their daughter Barbara. There are countless photographs taken in front of the window of their apartment in Chicago, which differ only in small details. However, the special attention Callahan gave to the physicality of the light means that these photographs go beyond mere family portraits, drawing attention to the simple beauty of life's fleeting moments.
"He just liked to take the pictures of me," Eleanor recalled in her nineties. "In every pose. Rain or shine. And whatever I was doing. If I was doing the dishes or if I was half asleep. And he knew that I never, never said no. I was always there for him. Because I knew that Harry would only do the right thing."¹
Callahan met his future wife, Eleanor Knapp, on a blind date in 1933. At the time, she was a secretary at Chrysler Motors in Detroit and he was a clerk. They married three years later and their daughter Barbara was born in 1950. Eleanor Callahan died in February 2012 at the age of ninety-five.
(Christoph Fuchs, 2024)

1 cit. The Met collection, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/266958 (2024-04-25)