Eleanor, Chicago c. 1953

This is ‘Eleanor, Chicago,’ a black and white photograph by Harry Callahan. Callahan was really fascinated by light and how it could shape a picture. What strikes me is how the textures, like the cobblestone and the imposing building behind her, are so distinct, yet they all blend into this unified gray scale. Look at the way Eleanor is positioned, almost blending with the pole. There is something about how contained she appears. She looks almost like a shadow, a form amongst other forms. It makes you think about the process of seeing, and of making a picture. Callahan kept returning to his wife Eleanor as a subject, almost like Morandi and his bottles, or Alfred Steiglitz and Georgia O’Keefe. For Callahan, Eleanor was a constant in his life and his art, each photograph an investigation into form, light, and the complex relationship between artist and subject. Ultimately, the photograph holds its secrets, inviting us to look, to feel, and to imagine the many stories it could tell.