Steidlville

“Callahan did somehow arrive quickly at the sure knowledge that the function of his own work was to describe not the public issues of the great world, but the interior shape of his private experience.” John Szarkowski

This book brings together a selection of Harry Callahan’s nature studies, twelve intimately scaled prints assembled into a special series by the artist in the early 1990s. Over the course of a career that spanned six decades, Callahan made nature one his primary themes, continually finding new ways of seeing trees, weeds, snow, and surf. Ranging in date from 1941 to 1991, these images typify the artist’s innovative approach to these subjects as well as his stated desire to “capture a moment that people can’t always see.” A number of works, for example, provide a striking description of surface detail on natural forms, while others reduce those forms into compelling abstract patterns and linear rhythms. Consistent throughout the series are the simplicity and technical refinement that distinguish Callahan’s style and secure his place among the foremost American photographers of the 20th century.