ART
Harry Callahan |
Written 30 January |
Tuesday 07 September, 13:00Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, 75014 [map]Harry Callahan
“Photography is an adventure just as life is an adventure. If man wishes to express himself photographically, he must understand, surely, to a certain extent, his relationship to life”. Harry Callahan
This exhibition at the HCB Foundation, organized in conjunction with the thirtieth anniversary of
Mois de la Photo brings together about a hundred black and white prints, produced by the author and from public collections. This collection presents the main themes of interest for the photographer - the city, his family and nature, three areas intimately linked to his personal life.
Harry Callahan (1912-1999) first began to take photographs just for fun, at first fascinated by the beauty of the instruments. Born in 1912 in Detroit, Harry Callahan studied mathematics for one year at the University of Lansing, (Michigan). He met and married Eleanor Knapp in 1936 and to support his family, accepted a job with Chrysler. He bought his first camera in 1938 and joined the photo club in Detroit. Self-taught, Callahan discovered and was fascinated by the work of Ansel Adams at a conference in 1941. Photography for Callahan became a real addiction, a way to get to know and discover the world. Callahan did not consider himself a storyteller, there is no photographic narrative in his work, simply a compulsive attempt to shape his inner experience.
In 1946, he fell into his teaching career in photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Over the years he befriended the likes of
Mies van der Rohe,
Edward Steichen,
Aaron Siskind, and Hugo Weber, who all played an important part in his life and work. For over sixty years Callahan has focused on the same subjects. Patient, methodical and focused Callahan produced emotionally powerful images.
