Harry Morey Callahan (October 22, 1912 – March 15, 1999) was an American photographer and educator. He taught at both the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.

Callahan's first solo exhibition was at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1951. He had a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1976/1977. Callahan was a recipient of the Edward MacDowell Medal and the National Medal of Arts. He represented the United States in the Venice Biennale in 1978.

Early life

Harry Morey Callahan was born in Detroit, Michigan. A talk given by Ansel Adams in 1941 inspired him to take his work seriously. He moved to Rhode Island in 1961 to establish a photography program at the Rhode Island School of Design, eventually inviting close friend and fellow artist Aaron Siskind to join him, teaching there until his retirement in 1977. Even prior to birth, his daughter showed up in photographs of Eleanor's pregnancy. From 1948 to 1953 Eleanor, and sometimes Barbara, were shown out in the landscape as a tiny counterpoint to large expanses of park, skyline or water.

He also worked with multiple exposures. Callahan's work was a deeply personal response to his own life. He encouraged his students to turn their cameras on their own lives, leading by example. Callahan photographed his wife over a period of fifteen years, as his prime subject. Eleanor was essential to his art from 1947 to 1960. He photographed her everywhere—at home, in the city streets, in the landscape; alone, with their daughter, in black and white and in color, nude and clothed, distant and close. He tried several technical experiments—double and triple exposure, blurs, large and small format film.

Callahan was one of the few innovators of modern American photography noted as much for his work in color as for his work in black and white. In 1955 Edward Steichen included his work in The Family of Man, MoMA's popular international touring exhibition.

In 1956, he received the Graham Foundation Award, which allowed him to spend a year in France with his family from 1957 to 1958. He settled in Aix-en-Provence, where he took many photographs.

Along with the painter Richard Diebenkorn, he represented the United States in the Venice Biennale in 1978.

Callahan died in Atlanta in 1999.

  • 1996: National Medal of Arts

Solo exhibitions

  • Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1951
  • Harry Callahan, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1976/1977. A retrospective.
  • Harry Callahan at 100, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2011-2012

Collections

Callahan's work is held in the following permanent collections:

  • Art Institute of Chicago: 105 works (as of April 2019)
  • George Eastman Museum: 112 works (as of April 2019)
  • Museum of Contemporary Photography: 28 works (as of April 2019)
  • Museum of Modern Art, New York: 243 works (as of April 2019)
  • National Gallery of Art: 191 works (as of August 2025)
  • Philadelphia Museum of Art: 151 works (as of September 2019)

References

  • "Harry Callahan" , Pace/MacGill Gallery