Eleanor and Barbara, Lake Michigan c. 1953

Curator: This photograph is titled "Eleanor and Barbara, Lake Michigan," a gelatin-silver print created around 1953 by the American photographer Harry Callahan. Editor: My first thought? Isolation. An unsettling quiet. The vast expanse of water and sky, and these figures, so small within it. It's beautiful but evokes a strange loneliness. Curator: Callahan often photographed his wife Eleanor, and here she appears to be wading in the lake with another woman, possibly a friend or relative. Callahan had an interesting approach; his images express a sort of humanistic modernism that focused on simple elements and the essence of his subjects' personalities. It makes one think about Walker Evans' impact, I believe. Editor: Absolutely, the starkness of the landscape reminds us of other stark visions, though filtered through his distinctly internal vision. It's funny though, in my opinion. Most artists go to Lake Michigan for color! This grey world is almost challenging in its beauty. Curator: He wasn't trying to document a scene perfectly, but capture something deeper, that emotional resonance you picked up on so immediately. And I think his approach—that intimate portrayal of family, of his immediate surroundings, actually broke ground. Previously, street photographers and FSA documentarians felt constrained in exploring their subject matters. This freedom, this move from the external to the internal that defines Callahan, came to be associated later with Robert Frank’s work. Editor: Do you feel as if the framing choices, the off-centered placement of the figures, amplify this tension? Like we are observers of a secret moment? Is he making his art, while also capturing art in his immediate reality? It’s a double capturing! It's intriguing how a black and white image, devoid of vibrant hues, can be so evocative. Curator: The monochromatic tones are crucial in establishing the mood. It directs you toward forms, to texture. Also, it must be considered that as a cultural signifier, images from Lake Michigan are always supposed to invoke notions of vacation, relaxation, maybe nostalgia. But this picture disrupts those expectations because Callahan is disrupting the expectation! Editor: Absolutely! What Callahan achieves with his compositions is a disruption. I guess I'll keep questioning what's within. That is, if the image and I allow each other to.