Highland Park, Michigan 1941 - 1942

Harry Callahan took this photo in Highland Park, Michigan. It's a silver gelatin print, so the tones are very subtle. What strikes me here is the way the image is constructed with simple shapes, almost like a geometric abstraction, but with real people. See how the figures are reduced to dark, upright forms, echoing the vertical lines of the wall’s stains and the lone broom propped at the end of the line? The grainy texture of the print gives everything a soft, almost dreamlike quality, even though the scene itself is quite stark. Callahan coaxes a surprising beauty from the everyday. This reminds me a little of Walker Evans's documentary work, but with a more formalist eye. It’s less about social commentary and more about the visual relationships between things. Callahan really invites us to slow down and find moments of unexpected grace. It's a reminder that art is really about seeing.