Christopher Callahan, from Narberth, Pennsylvania is a pensive man; economical with his words. Despite a soft spoken persona, Chris has a profound and settled presence. He talks very little of his work believing that good art should stand on its own, that a painter’s experience is separate from that of the viewer’s.
A self-taught outsider artist, Callahan has been drawing and painting for nearly 35 years. Chris attributes his art education to having worked at the Barnes Foundation. He quit college after two years and found a job working as a janitor at the Barnes Foundation. He immersed himself studying and looking at the amazing collection with any free time during and after hours. He started drawing with no instruction and his natural talent was quickly recognized by Miss Violette de Mazia. As her protégé, Callahan became intimate with and conversant on one of the world’s foremost private art collections. Apart from the inescapable influences of the Old Masters, Callahan believes that discovery, over time, has nurtured his results.