Mail Boxes

1935

American, born 1905, Spokane, Washington; died 1986, Seattle, Washington

Callahan believed that art should reflect the totality of the human experience in nature. He designed his works to embody, as he put it, “a holistic vision of cosmic unity” and a deep connection to the cycles of life. His philosophy applies as much to his well-known abstractions as it does to his earlier, more realistic scenes of the Pacific Northwest, such as this view of a humble cluster of mailboxes, energized by the atmospheric swirl of the muted light and landscape that surround them.

Oil on canvas

32 3/4 x 26 3/4 in. (83.2 x 68 cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

35.91

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryColorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs, Artists West of The Mississippi, 1940.

LaConner, Washington, Valley Museum of Northwest Art, Kenneth Callahan: Early Paintings and Early Works By Guy Anderson, Morris Graves and Mark Tobey, June 17 - Sept.4, 1994.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, From New York to Seattle: Case Studies in American Abstraction and Realism, Jan. 15, 2020 - June 5, 2022.

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