Eleanor, New York 1945

Harry Callahan took this photo of Eleanor in New York, and look, she's framed by light and shadow on a brick wall. The contrast is stark, almost graphic, and makes me think about how a painter approaches a canvas, deciding where to lay down that first, defining mark. I can imagine Callahan looking through the viewfinder, thinking about depth, flatness, and the way the light is hitting Eleanor’s face. The way it throws one side of her face into shadow, obscuring and revealing at the same time. It reminds me of those moments in the studio when you’re trying to capture something elusive, something that’s just beyond your grasp. There’s a certain tension in the composition, a push and pull between the geometric rigidity of the wall and the softness of Eleanor's features. It’s like a dance between order and chaos, control and chance, and it makes me wonder what other artists like László Moholy-Nagy were thinking about in their own work. It’s all one conversation, right?