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Maker(s):Callahan, Harry
Culture:American (1912-1999)
Title:Eleanor, Port Huron
Date Made:1954
Type:Photograph
Materials:Gelatin silver print
Measurements:Mat: 18 x 14 in; 45.7 x 35.6 cm; Sheet: 9 15/16 x 8 in; 25.2 x 20.3 cm; Image: 7 1/16 in x 7 in; 17.9 cm x 17.8 cm
Narrative Inscription:  SIGNATURE: recto, lwr. r. (graphite): Harry Callahan; NUMBER: verso, upp. ctr. (graphite): EM7
Accession Number:  UM 1978.42
Credit Line:Purchase with funds from the UMass Alumni Class of 1928 and a National Endowment for the Arts Museum Purchase Plan Grant
Museum Collection:  University Museum of Contemporary Art at UMASS Amherst
UM1978-42.jpg

Label Text:
Excerpt from wall label “What Is Love: Selections from the Permanent Collection,” April 19 – June 3, 2007:
From the middle of the 1940s through the 1960s Harry Callahan created a number of photographs of his partner Eleanor. Callahan and Eleanor met on a blind date in 1933 and were married in 1936. Callahan’s innovation as a photographer came from his continual experimentation, a signature trait found in his photographs of Eleanor. Here Callahan combines his earlier interest in abstracting the landscape while adding Eleanor to this process. Since Eleanor is nude here, her figure becomes a shape amidst other natural shapes. These photographs of Callahan’s wife go beyond mere documentation of their relationship. As writer James Alinder observed about this series, “Harry’s photographs of Eleanor will ensure as well; they will stand among the most significant pictures in the history of the medium. They reveal the mystery, the beauty, and the force of love.” - Julie Thomson, (M.A. '07)

Tags:
landscapes; nudes; women

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=UM+1978.42

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1 Related People

Callahan, Harry
American (1912-1999)
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