STEVEN HIRSCH’S SEARCH FOR TANCRED CALHOUN: WHO WAS THIS NOW-DECEASED ARTIST, AND WHAT DO HIS MYSTERIOUS ARTWORKS MEAN?

WITH VERY FEW CLUES OR LEADS TO FOLLOW, AN ENIGMATIC ART-MAKER’S IDENTITY WAS REVEALED

Published on February 10, 2026

In this recollection,brutjournal contributing photographer and artist Steven Hirsch looks back at his recent discovery of Tancred Calhoun’s strange artworks and his efforts to uncover some information about the late, self-taught art-maker’s life.

by Steven Hirsch

NEW YORK — Every Saturday, I try to make it to the flea markets in my neighborhood in downtown Manhattan. This has become a ritual. Over the years, among the treasures I’ve found, some amazing finds really have stood out. Among them: a valuable photographic print by Mike Disfarmer, which I picked up for ten dollars, and an abstract painting from the 1970s ($75.00) that once had been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art. I’ve learned to look for the untold treasures people let go of without realizing what they have.

[Editor’s note: Mike Disfarmer (1884-1959) was an Indiana-born photographer who became known for his portraits of local people in rural Arkansas from the 1920s through the 1950s. His work was rediscovered in the 1970s and is now greatly admired for its artistic qualities.]

One of Tancred Calhoun’s bizarre erotic works in triptych form (date unknown). Here, a nude woman reclines on a group of uncomfortable-looking rocks in a pond while a large, shaggy animal — an aberrant anteater? — tickles her with its long snout. Photo by Steven Hirsch

Looking back, maybe all of my rummaging around at flea markets led me to the work of a self-taught artist whose name, I would later learn, was Tancred Calhoun. I found the first few of his “paintings” — actually, they’re images burned into wood surfaces and then painted —tucked away between a pile of discount toiletries and a bin of junk electronics.