Over their 63-year marriage, Callahan took hundreds of photographs of his greatest subject, his wife, Eleanor. In his images Eleanor is protean: She can be a particular individual, an element of nature, a sensual muse, an archetype of womanhood, or a tender mother. He often took advantage of her long, dark hair and pale porcelain skin, making her one of the most iconic models in 20th-century photography. Sometimes he reduced her body parts to formal compositions of line and shade; other times, as here, he focused on her sensuality. For her part, Eleanor trusted Callahan implicitly and was a willing model, even when she was initially uncomfortable with some of the frontal nudity. “I was always there for him,” she said. “Because I knew that Harry would only do the right thing.”

—Text taken from the Carter Handbook (2023)