Idea Transcript
Ansel
Adams
Barry Pritzker
Ansel
.
Adams Barry Pritzker With more than 80 black-and-white photographs
Ansel Adams, certainly the best known and probably the most popular photographer in the world, has inspired millions
people
ot
with
spectacular
his
An
photographs of natural scenes. credibly energetic
excellence, he
work
his
in-
with a passion for
made more than 40,000
signed
negatives,
showed
man
10,000
fine
prints,
over five hundred
in
worldwide, and sold over one million copies of his books in a career that spanned almost seventy exhibitions
years.
From the beginning,
carefully con-
trolled, top-quality printing, as well as a
on the unspoiled
focus
natural world,
were the trademarks of Adams's legendary style.
Two key
events occurred in Adams's
without which he may well have
life,
pursued his love of music and become a
At the age of fourteen, on vacation with his family at Yosemite concert pianist.
National Park, he experienced the Sierra
Nevada mountains instantly
for the first time.
He
with their majesty
in love
fell
and sheer physical beauty, and returned there at least once every year of his life.
The other incident occurred when Adams was twenty-eight. While visiting Taos,
New
Mexico, he saw the work of
the photographer Paul Strand. Strand's
images
convinced him,
photography
— which
not generally respected
through
that
that time was
at
as a fine
art— he
could creatively express his most pro-
found
spiritual sentiments.
One
Adams's
of
most
enduring
legacies as
an
beauty
indistinguishable from truth.
is
He became for
artist
is
his conviction that
a political activist, fighting
the preservation of the wilderness
that so inspired him, in the ture
generations
would
hope that have
also
fu-
a
chance to love and explore the natural world. Teacher, artist, mountaineer and environmentalist, Ansel Adams developed his photographic skill to near perfection,
and offered
in
his
photo-
graphs a world resonant with the "Whit-
manesque" aspect of America, optimistic, celebratory and perhaps ideal in its magnificence, yet not, after like the
grandeur of our own.
all,
so un-
Digitized by the Internet Archive in
2010
http://www.archive.org/details/anseladamsOOadam
Ansel
Adams
Ansel
Adams Barry Pritzker
Crescent Books New
Yorlc/Avenel,
New Jersey
Copyright
©
1991
Brompton Books Corporation
All rights reserved.
No
may he reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system
part ot this publication
or transmitted in any form hy any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without
first
obtaining written permission of the copyright owner.
This 1991 edition published hy Crescent Books, distributed by Outlet a
Book Company,
Inc.,
Random House Company,
40 Engelhard Avenue Avenel, New Jersey 07001 Produced by
Brompton Books Corporation 15 Sherwood Place Greenwich, CT 06830
ISBN 0-517-06034-5
876543 Printed in
Hong Kong
Most of the photographs
in this collec-
tion were reproduced from negatives ot original
Ansel Adams prints preserved hy
the National Archives rather than from
Acknowledgments
The author and publisher would like to thank the following people who helped in the preparation ot this book: Design 23; Susan Bernstein, the Editor; and Rita Longabucco, the picture
original negatives. editor.
This book has not been authorized hy
and has no connection with Ansel Adams and the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.
Page 1: "Grand Canyon National Park,"
Grand Canyon National
Park,
Arizona.
Page
2:
"Yellowstone Falls," Yellowstone National Park,
Wyoming. Page 5: "Court ot the Patriarchs," Zion National Park, Utah.
Contents Introduction
Canyons and Caverns Mountains and
Portraits and Close-ups 72
6
Skies
List of
20
40
Indian Life, Past AND Present 90
Photographs
112
Introduction One
always wonders at the role ot chance in
human
events. In
Adams, never
the spring of 1916 tourteen-year-old Ansel
a
healthy boy, took to his bed again. This time the problem was
only a cold; young Ansel was pleased that the illness was not
however. Whenever possible he liked to indulge in his favorite hobby, photography. Throughout his
Ansel's relationship to his mother, Olive, was not as close.
Her
on a vacation that was scheduled for early
moved
summer, though
the destination was as yet undecided.
To
help
him
book entitled Ansel
fell
pass the time in bed his
Aunt Mary gave him J.
a
M. Hutchings.
with the descriptions and illustrations of
those mountains and convinced his family to head east to Yose-
He was
mite for their vacation. year of his
life.
Although
as a
to return at least
later
Ansel Adams, one
knew my
destiny
when
first
barely 100 years old,
years
time he saw the Sierra,
first
and taken
camera from
At
in 1916.
and
photography, tives,
his father, a
the time photography was
seriously as
an
form by only a
art
own
to establishing firmly the validity of artistic
Adams personally made more than 40,000 nega-
signed 10,000 fine prints, exhibited his work in more
than 500 exhibitions, and sold over one million copies of his books.
Through
his
photographs he made millions of people
aware not only of the natural beauty of the western United States but also, as an ardent
to
suffer
and outspoken conservationist, of
the need to preserve and protect that beauty for the pleasure of future generations.
was then a natural and somewhat wild part
ot
in
what
San Francisco.
Out on the dunes west of the city, the family home commanded Marin County, and the
Golden Gate, the
rolling hills of
Ocean. Growing up on the
Pacific
central California coast taught
him
in the
mid-nineteenth
from a progressively debilitating depression. Ansel never
years
he knew only that his parents were unhappy and that his
mother's father and
to appreciate the light
and
who
sister,
their deaths, were a financial
Ansel
Adams
be outdoors? physically
He was
ill
Adamses
Why sit
in school
when you
By the age of thirteen
it
was clear to
all
that Ansel
in school. Despite his belief in education,
Adams was enough
of an individualist and a
formist to appreciate the uniqueness of his son.
coming
radical plan: for the
He
proposed a
he would travel every day
classes at school. Instead,
to the
Panama-Pacific International Exposition, held in San Francisco that year to celebrate the opening of the to learn
Panama Canal,
what he could about the world.
This exposition was Adams's classroom tor
a year.
Some-
times his father would accompany him, and together they
would explore the
The
exhibits.
exposition also offered the
opportunity to study a wide selection of contemporary paint-
show
works by Cezanne, Gauguin, and Monet. At a
a year later,
Adams was exposed
to the latest ideas in art
-
the cubist works of Picasso and Braque.
The
stimulation and informal structure ot the exposition
coupled with a traditional
series ot private tutors,
means had
failed:
Adams
succeeded where more
finally
graduated from the
eighth grade and received his grammar school diploma in 1917.
cock Adams, encouraged that view, and added
that had sat tor years in a corner ot the living room.
a healthy
noncon-
Ansel would not attend
year,
About
it
could
probably hyperactive, and certainly was
mystery of profound natural beauty. His father, Charles Hitchto
until
for his father.
and emotionally distraught with frustrating
was not succeeding Carlie
lived with the
burden
did not easily adapt to the discipline of tradi-
tional schooling as a child.
ing, including
Ansel Easton Adams was born on February 20, 1902,
a magniticent view ot the
came from Baltimore, although they
Carson City, Nevada,
quite understood the reasons for his mother's condition. For
regularity.
handful of people. In a lifetime devoted to expressing his creativity
"I
experienced Yosemite."
Ansel Adams received his
Kodak #1 Box Brownie,
many
and most suc-
ot the world's best-loved
I
once every
young man he studied music and
seriously considered a career as a concert pianist,
cessful photographers, said of hrst
family, the Brays,
century. Shortly after her marriage to Carlie, Olive began to
In the Heart oj the Sierras, by
in love
Ansel maintained an
enduring admiration and respect for his father.
serious enough to prevent him from accompanying his family
that
life
that time, he began to take an interest in an old piano
He soon
dose ot the Puritan work ethic and sense ot duty.
taught himself to play the instrument, while Carlie, pleased by
The elder Adams had an enormous influence on his son. The Adams family originally hailed from New England. Charles
formal lessons.
Adams, though Emersonian spirit.
bom
in Calitornia,
ideal ot self reliance
He conveyed
this to
had
a strong belief in the
and the primacy
Ansel
in
many
ot the
human
ways: in his intense
relationship with nature; in his example ot strict personal
honesty and integrity, despite disasters;
and
a
continuing
series of financial
in his utter confidence in the creative spirit of his
son. Charles, or Carlie, as he was
known, was not
all
work,
the talent and initiative displayed by his son, arranged for
He
found piano teachers
who maintained
the
highest standards and insisted that their students do the same.
Eventually
Adams became an accomplished
musical studies helped
him
both discipline and the value After graduation,
Adams
photo-tinishing company. petitive nature ot the
pianist.
to structure his lite by teaching ot striving to
His
him
achieve his best.
took a job in San Francisco with a
Two
work and
years later, bored with the re\'ery
much under
the intluence
iNTRonumoN
Alxi\
c:
EaJwcard "Falls
Adam* I
first
1H72 phti>(,'r;iph J. MuvHridKc'N the YoM-TTiitc from (ilncicr Rotk." said, "I knew my destiny when
(if
experienced Ycrsemite."
ANSEL ADAMS
of his trips to the mountains, he began a stint as custodian at
doned that process
the headquarters of the Sierra Club at Yosemite National Park,
him
Adams undertook
hi 1920
his
first
true wilderness trip.
To-
come by
to
mountaineer he scaled the breathtaking heights, explored the
had
swam
carried his
Adams and took many
in the pure lakes of Yosemite.
camera equipment
all o\-er
the park
Althciugh he was
still
seriously studying the piano, photo-
graphy began to take an ever greater hold on his imagination. preferred Yosemite in winter because ot the greater oppor-
tunities for black-and-white contrasts.
and
also to study different
graphy.
which
He
to
He
hiked for pleasure
approaches to mountain photo-
already had definite ideas concerning the
compose
a
way
in
photograph and the proper lighting needed
to achieve a certain effect.
On
occasion he would wait some-
place for hours, or perhaps most ot a day, tor the right light in
which a
to finally click the shutter.
mere record
accurate, vivid,
at the Sierra Club's
someone
direct style that
was
for
and emotionally satisfying.
tor the printing process
was hard
LeConte Memorial Lodge
(it
Adams would never think of
brought in big buckets),
to be
letting
more
else print his negatives. Carefully controlled,
top-quality printing, as well as a focus
on the unspoiled natural
world, was from the beginning a trademark of the photographs
fine pictures.
He
more
Although the water necessary
gether with "Uncle" Frank Holman, a family friend and avid
serene valleys, and
optically
in tawir oi a
His aim never was to make
ot a subject or scene, but rather to create
an
artistic expression.
In the early days
photography. At
ot
Ansel Aciams.
Many
ot
first
preferred an impressionistic style ot
he printed "soft-tocus" negatives,
re-
photographs had to look
like
flecting the pre\-ailing idea that
charcoal drawings to be "artistic." Howe\'er, he soon aban-
ideas concerning the nature of this period ot his life.
had no time for people who spoke of photographs creations, as
more
Adams
as "objective"
opposed to paintings, which were thought of
interpretive or "artistic."
He
insisted that, far
as
from being
objective, a photographer has to carefully consider
many
crucial variables before taking a picture: composition of a
photograph, correct lens to create the right visual filter,
and
combine
light. In
the hands ot skilled
artists all
to record "a prix'ate glimpse of
hi tact,
Adams
Adams's central
photography were formed during
one mark of Adams's genius
his ability to "visualize" the
outcome
some
as a
effect, film,
these elements
ideal reality."
photographer was
of a picture before
actually made. "Visualization," an important
Adams
it
was
term, in-
wilves "the intuiti\'e search tor meaning, shape, form, texture,
and the projection
ot the
image-tormat on the subject." This
INTROPL'eTION would
iiDt hiU'c
been possiWc witliout
and
of creative inspiration
ixuli his p;irticiilar
comniand
his excellent
bmnd
ot the
many
technical aspects ot the photographic process.
niountaineenny
TiiroLii;!iout the e.irlv l'-)20s .'\danis k\i
trips
Stantord or the Uni-
tor tiie Sierra (.Jluh. Faculty iiieiiihers troin
versity ot C^alitornia at Berkeley otten enrolled in these ex-
peditions; the\ |To\idei.l L;ood
company
hut uitcllcctualK curiou'> yukle.
The
unschooled
tor their
Sierra Clul-' soon recog-
nized the quality ot Adams's photographs, and began publishing
them along with
articles related to his hikes in
The
Sierra
Cluh Bulk'tm. Dunni;
his stays at
up with his music
Yosemite he also tounJ the nine
studies.
ti>
keep
His triend Harry Best, ot Best's
Photographic Studio, allowed .Ansel to practice on his piano.
It
he met Virginia Best, the daughter
ot
was
at Best's Studio that
the proprietor and .Adams's future wite.
was also during
It
this period that
Adams made
the acquain-
tance ot Albert Bender, a wealthy and influential patron ot the arts in the
Bay
Bender took a strong
area.
interest in
Adams,
in-
troducing him to the local art scene and eventually commissioning several porttolios. Casting about tor the theme ot one
Adams drew upon
book,
American Southwest,
his love ot the
having become enamored ot that region during
Bender
in I'^'ZT.
The
Pueblo was published
a trip there
resulting portfolio ot the ancient in 1930, in
an edition
ot
100 books. At
the time each sold tor $75; by the mid-1980s .Adams's Puehli)
was
selling tor
Adams
Taos,
In
with
Taos
Tdd.'i
around $12,000.
stayed at the ranch of arts hostess Mabel
Dodge Luhan. There he met Georgia O'Keetie, Paul Strand, and
number
a
ot
other
friendly with O'Keette,
many
years,
noon he
it
artists.
and her husband Altred
was Strand
in\ ited
.Although he would remain
who was to change
.Adams to look
his
Srieglit:, tor
lite,
at his negatives.
l-^ne after-
Adams was
bow
led o\er:
fect
composition - simple, yet so powerful. For the
Adams
he had never seen such subtlety of light, such per-
clearly understood the |'«otenti
expressive
art.
By the time he returned
il
of
to
first
photography
time as
an
San Francisco he no
longer wonderei.1 whether his future lay in music or photi)-
graphy.
He had made
his decision.
Fortunately his wife Virginia agreed with his career choice.
They had married concentrate
and began
i>n
in 192S. In 1930, ft)llowing his decision to
photography, he built a house
soliciting
a living, but
San Francisco
commercial assignments. These he viewed
as a bargain with the devil:
make
in
he needed commercial work to
he always made a distinction between com-
mercial ("without") andcreati\e ("within") photography, saving his best work for the latter. For instance, he consented to
shoot color film for commercial assignments, hut rarely used
it
for his artistic endeavors, K-lieving that only with black-and-
white film could he sufficiently control the photographic proOpposite: w,is
AKivc
nil
mtliicnccd Ad.ims. Here
is
Strand's "TIk- White Fence, Port Kent, 1916."
Stieulit: «ave Adam.s ciinhdence that he
Above: Altred
could express hiinselt phi>tt.'raphv.
Here
"Spring SliDwers."
is
throiii;!)
Stieulit:'s
cess
and convey
a
profound emotional depth. His commercial
clients eventually included such
companies
as Pacific
Gas and
Electric, American Telegraph and Telephone, American
Trust, Eiistman-Kodak. Hills Brothers Qiffee, and his mt)st im-
ANSEL ADAMS
Above: Georgia O'Keeffe at an exhibition of her work in 1931. Adams's meeting with her in 1927 was the friendship.
10
start ot a lifelong
INTROl^iL'^TION
Above: Adanvs
wn>ti- phiifi>Kr;iphic
reviews aKiut French phi if
Eugene AtKet. Here de StrasKiurK,
is
<
>t;riipher
Afjjet's "Biiiilevard
Ctirscts, 1912."
II
ANSEL ADAMS portant client for
many
years,
The Yosemite
Park and Curry
must develop along
Company. Within
a year
he was writing photography reviews
and Edward Weston, the close friend.
latter of
child, Michael. In
1934
Adams and
sisted
While Group
with
Known
as
- 64 being the smallest aperture setting on a field
and hence the
sharpness throughout a photograph - these
as "possessing
no
.
.
in the
photography
in
An
acknowledged
on which
They
in-
to print their negatives.
San Francisco Bay
area, the center of art
America was New York City;
American
Place,
owned by
to be the master of the
specifically, a gal-
the
man
medium, Alfred
generally Stieglitz.
Adams traveled east to meet the great man. Adams own work was good, but hardly dared hope that Stiewould agree. To his delight, Stieglitz liked his work, and
In 1933
artists
knew
qualities of
glitz
his
even offered to arrange a show
technique, composition, or idea, derivative of any other art .
optical sharpness.
f/64 helped to create a mini-renaissance of
photography
lery called
were dedicated to what they called "pure" photography.
form.
artists
10 negative, as well as a lens
look like photograph, not like an imitation of another art form.
to create a formal association
They defined pure photography
Most of these
several other influential
camera, allowing the greatest depth of
maximum
glossy paper
."
In short, they popularized the idea that a photograph should
the goal of advancing photography as an art form. f764
on using
.
first
their
Bay area photographers, including Imogen Cunningham and
Edward Weston, decided
X
which provided the most extreme
whom eventually became his
By 1932 Virginia was pregnant with
by the actualities and limita-
medium.
used a view camera with an 8
tor the
magazine, The Fortnightly. His subjects included Eugene Atget
Group
lines defined
tions of the photographic
[they believed that] photography, as an art form,
his
at the Place.
(Adams
did have
New York one-man exhibition debut during that trip,
Left:
"The
but
it
Steerage, 1907," by
Alfred Stieglitz.
Opposite: Imogen Cunningham along with Adams and other photographers formed Group
Here is Cunningham's "Magnolia Blossom, 1925."
t/64.
12
)
INTROL^LiUTlON
was
at a gallery called
yeats to
show
his
He hnd
Delphic Studios.
work
rn wait rlircc
in
at the Place.
Adams was elated. To him, recognition hy StieKlit: meant now belonged to a worldwide tradition in photography,
park in
including not only early Americans like
that
"Art
srn
just
of the Board of [directors of the Sierra
I9M)
he traveled to
the creation of a California.
in
major commission -
a
sites
new
As
a
assume
There he used photographs
acceptance
l'-M6.
as a lobby
to
move
f/64, Stieglit:,
ing that photographs of the Sierra by Carleton
later
known
l>a\id
Adams
and such
at
ot
An
to create a
.ind the
ol
other
art historians
«hoiii .Adams
had
,is
re-
was rapidiv gaining
Perhaps the ultimate evidence
New
York's
ot this
Museum
ot
Pepartment of Photography within the
museum. Newhall was the curator
not-
Watkins
m
as the
the tainily to Yosemite
friendly, photograjiln
as a fine att.
Ml Klern Art
fiir
Canyon,
mg ttnil,
ot
insrrniiKni.\l
Meanwhile, Virginia's tather had
was the decision by the Trustees
Club (he had been
national park at Kings River
met Secretary
Ix-
under the jurisdiction
largely to the influence ot
become
cently
member
Washington. D.C., to lobby
national
control o( Best's Studio.
members of Group
Gallery in
Adams. His second
the year hetore.
also
man who woniJ
Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, with
year 1936 was a husy one for Ansel
elected in
Washington he
in
She and Ansel prepared
Thanks
San Francisco.
The
Adams
American Place
he gave him the confidence
opened the short-lived Ansel
While
first
the Interior IVpartment. Ailams also had his exhibition
excited aKuit his meeting with Stieg-
still
Jackson's phorographs of Yellowstone
Mural Project - to photograph
later said that Stieglit:
the affirmation of life," he learned fnim Stieglit:.
lcS72.
obtaining tor
0'Sulli\ an
he could express himself thn)ugh photography. His credo,
he returned home, lit:,
Timothy
Jackst)n, hut also such masters as Euf^ene
Atget and even Stieglit: did ni>t
W.H.
the Inreruir Harold Ickes, a
that he
and William Henr>'
IS64, and
played a major role in the estal^iisiiinent ot our
ot
the
new ilepattmeni, and
McAlpin, abiisinessman, attspatton,
ainl
key s|-ionsorot
the project, was the chairman of the Pln)tography C^ommittee.
in-
In 1940
fluenced the decision to create a state park at Yosemite Valley
13
Adams agreed
to a request by
Newhall and McAlpin
to
ANSEL ADAMS
come
New
to
launch the
York
tor six
new department. The
ment of Photography
December sur\'ey of
31,
at
hrst exhibit of the
such
as
Adamson
his stay in
New
to
ot
it
featured a
David Octa-
Stieglit:.
MoMA project was,
Adams did
not enjoy
York (t)nce he admitted that he had a hard time
appreciating America east of Denver!). Early in 1940
began teaching
Depart-
contemporary photographs
Adams, Weston, and
exciting as the
help
Museum of Modern Art opened on
photography from the 1840s calotypes
artists
As
the
as a special advisor to
1940. Entitled "Sixty Photographs,"
\ius Hill and Robert
by
months
at the
his hrst serious
Art Center School
in
Adams
Los Angeles.
It
was
teaching experience, and one which he
thoroughly enjoyed. Teaching came easily to Adams, in part,
no doubt, because he shared
down knowledge
passing
his father's belief in the value of
to others tor the edification of future
generations. In
an
effort to systematize his
teaching method,
Adams
de-
veloped one of his most fundamental technical innovations.
The Zone System is Adams System for graph.
from
It
a codification ot
what might be called the
creating a technically proficient photo-
divides the range ot light into eleven tones, or zones,
tot;il
black (:one zero) to ptire white (zone ten).
With
this
system the photographer can determine and then create specific
tones in a hnal print based on an assessment of the contrast
range of a subject.
14
He
always stressed, however, that the Zone
INTRODUCTION Opposite top: "Yellowstone
Mt Sheridiin," t;\ken by Adams while working on tine Like,
Mural Paiject. Opposite bottom: AJ.inis used his photographs ot Kings River
Canyon, California,
as a
lobbying tocA to try to create a new national park. Here is
Adams's "Mt. Winchell."
Right: Adams admired the work of Dorothea Lange. Here is Lange's "Migrant Worker, Nipomo, California, 1936."
System was to,
a strictly technical tool,
not a substitution
for,
and merely
a
complement
Adams also
individual creative vision.
Though a pacifist at heart, Adams did try to enlist in against
what he
from the project, Barn Free and
called "the hideous Hitler regime," hut was re-
American
practical
photography
trcx)ps
1943 he visited the Manzanar
War Relocation Camp
Valley, three hundred miles north of Lxis Angeles,
in
fall
life
they
promi.sc.
and even heroic
Interestingly,
photography.
of
CVens
known
for
Adams
He admired
of
its
made there. Adams was impressed both
one
i>t
his
many
quality.
To Americans
human
full
bur-
of hope and
objected to most documentary
Lmge
- best
her work in the thirties tor the Farm Security felt
they conveyed a broad range
emotions. In general, however, the
fond of saying that there was as
much
man who was
social significance in a
rock as in a breadline disliked being told what was important
with the courage and fortitude of the loyal Japanese-American citizens imprisoned at
Manzanar and with the natural beauty he
and what wasn't. Ever a champion
found in and around
Owens
saw
Valley. His
in
the images ot I")orothea
Administration - because he
and landed
an a.ssignmcnt from the director of the camp to photograph
of course, that millions of
dened with war, he showed an expan.sive countr>',
Ord, and printing some top-
secret negatives of Japanese military installations. In the
people and the
cularly optimistic
around Yosemite Valley, teaching
at Fort
in 1*^44.
Kniks. In the early 1940s his photographs K-gin to reflect a parti-
he undertcx)k a number of civilian assignments, Including
escorting
He knew,
people saw his work, either in exhibitions or
jected since he was a married forty-year-old with dependents. Still,
was puhlishoii
used his growing celebrity as a photographer in the
service of the war effort.
the fight
Ecfiul,
K)ok of photographs
15
t(K)
much
t>f
the individual,
of the gn)up in most documentary work.
Adams
ANSEL ADAMS He
what he considered the negativin-
especially disliked
consultant tor the newly tounded Pi'Iaroid Corporation.
in
documentary- photography. Where, he otten wondered, were the positive aspects ot America - the "ordinary-, healthy,
anew
reasonably smart, reasonably aware, reasonably successful
Adams
people?"
Where was
His passion tor teaching,
the "\X'hitmanesque" aspect of America -
in 1955
discovered in 1940, tlourished
first
with the genesis of the Ansel
Adams Workshops. own
took pleasure in helping students to discover their
The workshops were held
creativity through phottigraphy.
at
joyous, celebratory, wildly optimistic?
Yosemite every year from 1955 until 1981, when advancing age
Steichen for a number of reasons,
forced
Adams disliked Edward many having to do with -con-
Steichen's photographs reflected a fear ot the beautiful.
condemned
He
many
his students?
- or
into "mere pictorialism"
others,
worse, into propaganda.
During the early years of the war
Adams had
a
travel throughout the
American West courtesy of the U.S.
government, taking pictures
graph
unique oppor-
photographer of the Mural Project, to
ot Indian reservations
tools consisted of the
How
for
and many
Unabashed
award
ot
two Guggenheim Fellowships, one
another in 1948, allowed
extended photography
Adams
in
The
to
There he found the natural scenery
as
hoped. Wlien the weather was good he covered
ing close-ups
time
and intimate
oft to reflect
He
studies of nature.
To
of vast, natural space.
It
first
time he
seemed to Adams
telt
full
need
civil-
down
at Glacier Bay,
he
realized that, for
and soul, human beings need the existence spoiled wilderness
on our
planet.
to devote whate\er resources
result of his prodigious
both body
busy,
volumes
in his "Basic
Photo
he reached his
as
left
Yosemite
and
visitors,
It
t(.i
built tor
taking pictures (though
still
atter the
move
still
west),
still
putting
publishing books and
enough
this wasn't
after a
even
in 1962 to re-
home
to
keep him
day of hard work, to entertain
look at a portfolio an eager student
might bring to show him.
He
also
had the time, and the energy,
to begin a major
new
photographic association. Ever since his friend Edward Weston
work with the camera was the first
down
Calitornia. Yet this was not a re-
he was
darkroom,
he often had time,
friends
he could to sa\e our environ-
The
for Ansel:
in long hours in his
ot large areas ot un-
died in 1958,
Adams had
carried
on the tamily friendship with
Weston's sons. Cole and Brett. In 1966, with the encourage-
two of tour
Series," Ctimerti and Lens
home
arranging for exhibitions.
He determined from then on
accelerated pace of his publications.
change, he and X'irginia
he took few significant ones
ment, especially wilderness, from further destruction.
One
slowing
Carmel Highlands,
in
tirement
and threatened with over-development. As he watched the rain pour
tor a
them
force
that, as magnificent
were relatively confined
all
Adams was
only to acknowledge that his schedule began to
is
turn to the ocean, this time to a magnificent
as he tound the national parks in the continental U.S., in-
cluding his beloved Yosemite, they
prints over the years.
approximate that ot the average torty-year-old. Feeling the
also used his
the
X 10-inch
say that
sixties
always found meaning and inspiration in
wilderness, but in Alaska tor the
"Yosemite Special Edition Prints."
series ot
did not print the negatives himselt, but true to his philo-
inexpensive 8
himselt with shoot-
on the tension between wilderness and
He had
ization.
Adams contented
order to
he loved, and to help leave
only at Best's Studitn .-Kdams sold thousands of these beautiful,
Alaskan landscape. Untortunately the weather was was,
tasteless, or both. In
ot the park
many miles in a
quisite
it
had
that the souvenirs available to
by his assistants to meet his special requirements. Available
of ven' basic airplanes, seeing a good deal of the ex-
when
some time
he had
as
variet\'
often poor;
tr>'
sophy of adhering to the highest standards, they were printed
of Alaska.
awesome
to
with more dignified and appropriate memories, Ansel
began to produce a
He
is,
might have been with only a photo-
reality
were of poor quality, or
tourists
1^46 and
pursue another dream - an
trip to the territory
seen,
partisans ot that wonderful park, they
for
improve the image
the time for consultants, $22.22 per
day, plus costs including car e.xpenses at 4 cents per mile.
his con-
What is seen, he would ask and how is it executed? He otten
twenty years, and had been \isiting there for more than
forty.
tourists
at
Carmel. His
1950s Ansel and Virginia had lived at Yosemite
late
the Interior Department in that region. His compensation was
allowed
in
Zone System and
as evidence.
By the
of the national parks and other tacilities under the control ot
maxmium
is it
what the
been bothered
the
home
ad\ised his students to try to "read" a photograph; that to imagine
tunity, as the official
the workshops to his
cept ot visualizing ot a photograph.
the degeneration of photography in the hands of
Steichen, and
move
to
main teaching
but primarily because he believed that
flicting personalities,
him
ment of Cole Weston, Adams got some like-minded people
and The
The
to-
Negative, were published in 1948, with the third and fourth
gether and formed
volumes coming out
organization dedicated to the advancement ot creative photo-
half of the 1950s
in the early 1950s. In tact, during the first
Adams
published no fewer than eight books;
helped to found, with Minor White and others, the
graphy.
to
do
a photo-essay in Life
on the Mormons
in
Utah.
He
that .Ansel .Adams was
also
moving
torce
and chiet
tci
shape
no doubt
inspiration.
James Alinder, The
Friends eventually grew into the largest international group of
a shared interest in the
Adams became
its
Especially under the able leadership ot
the instant photographic process. Their friendship was based
technical aspects of photography. In 1949
president of the
the direction and tone ot the group, there could be
Edwin Land, inno\-ator ot
on protound mutual respect and on
From the beginning Adams was the
board ot trustees, and although many people helped
new photo-
graphy journal Aperture; and teamed up with Dorothea Lange
struck up a deep friendship with Dr.
Friends ot Photography, a non-profit
its
kind, with a sound financial base, a membership, as of the
mid-1980s, of more than 12,000, an educational program
a
16
INTROnUcTlON
k Above: Ansel Adams
in 1966.
Right: Edwiird
Group
Wcstmi
w;is a
t/64 niL'tnbcr ;inj
Adams's triend. Here is Weston's "Two Shells, 1^)27."
fcaturinK the Ansel series of exhihitions.
Adams Workshops, and an impressiw One of the more amhitious projects of The
Friends was the production in Shanghai of a major Ansel
Adams
exhihition. Five thousand people waited each day tn
view the great American photographer's work. After
Shanghai show the exhihition was
Museum
of Art.
tural emissary-
States
Adams
thi
installed in the Beijin
tinik pride in hisahility toact asacul
during a time of tension between the United
and China.
In fact, his love of
and dedication
to
The
Friends of Photi.
graphy was such that he and Virginia decided to leave then
home and
studio to the group after their deaths.
this final act
of "passing
He hoped
that
down" would help The Friends to sucThe K-quest of his home was
ceed as a thriving organi:ation. only one of the
htmor
his dear
Adams made in his later years. In 1977, to friends, Adams established the Beaumont and gifts
Nancy Newhall Curatorial Fellowship
in
Photography
at the
17
ANSEL ADAMS Museum Center
Tucson,
in
Modern
of
Art. In 1975 he helped to establish the
Photography
for Creative
now
his archive
In addition to teaching
his publications
fellow of the
Adams
ot his negatives.
and working with The Friends,
Adams kept up a busy travel many of the awards that came on
University of Arizona
at the
and the repository
and other
schedule, personally accepting his way,
and continued
projects. In 1966
to
American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
traveled to Europe tor the
first
work
he was elected
a
In 1974
time, where he taught at
the Aries (France) photography festival. In 1976 he journeyed to
London
to attend the
Museum
ot
opening of his major exhibition
Museum.
Victoria and Albert
In 1974,
Modern Art mounted
a
and again
at the
in 1979, the
major retrospective of his
work. Although he had resigned from the Sierra Club's board of directors in 1971
-
as a result of a political dispute
leadership, after 37 years of service
with
its
- he was elected an
honorary vice-president of that group in 1978. In 1980 the Wilderness Society established the Ansel
Award naming
its
namesake
Adams Conservation
as the first recipient.
Aclams's falling out with the Sierra Club was a sign not only of his "militant optimism" (he despised what he perceived as
both the negativity of the president, David Browser, and the unrealistically hardline stance of the club in their fight with Pacific
Gas and
Electric
(PG&.E) over the
Canyon nuclear power plant); tical activism.
certainly also,
As an
activist
saw himself
as a
it
siting of the
also reflected his
Diablo
growing
poli-
he did not shun controversy.
He
committed conservationist, but he
characteristically, believed in
acknowledging what he
considered certain social and economic
realities.
Above: Ansel Adams Left:
at
work.
Adams holds the Award presented to
Ansel
Hasselblad
him by Sweden's King Carl X'V'I
Gustaf and
Queen
Silvia
in 1981.
Opposite: Ansel
Academy
Adams
at the
Natural Sciences ot Philadelphia. He was ot
awarded the Academy's 1981
Gold Medal
tor distinction in
natural history
18
art.
lNTR0lUlt:T10N For example, PGiSiE orisinally wanted to
nn the Nipomo Dunes,
pitwer plant
tluence ot
The
Canyon
quake
fault).
Dunes are for
cluh, dividcl
tar
(this
i^mic bur
a
under
the
tiie in-
to ninve the site to
tor
Adams, chided
tiu-
pulMic
may
as well
When
ihe conser\ation efforts ot President
,\|-'pl.uKk\l
asked to photojjraph |immy and Rosalynn Car-
time a photo-
ter tor the official presidential portrait (the first
'jraph
In
was used instead
I'-'T'-'
Presitlent
Adams humbly
ot a painrinj.;)
C ".irter
however,
tor
try as
Even Adams,
he mij^hr to be positive, could not see anything
He believed
hopeful in a Ronald Reagan presidency. W.itf's appointinent as Secretary ot
Ix-
accepted.
au:u\lcd linn the PreMdenn.il Medal
ot Freedi>m, .•\nierica's highest civilian Imnor.
Darsun .uitomobiles, niaintained
that since cars are here to stay,
and
Fiirils,
Carter.
by some ot his environ-
In another instance,
commercial
personally lobbied Presidents Ford, Charter,
and Reayan to conserve and respect the environment. He liked
impiirtant than Diablo (.Canyon," a position criticized
Adam>
Ansel
.ind
Ad.inis said later that as a natural area, "the
more
mentalist friends.
on
encouragei.! to dri\ e tuel-efticient ones.
nuclear
was before the club knew about the earth-
which he was soundly
workinj;
on the
Adams, prevailed upon PGiSiE
Piabio
site their
which Adams
held to he ot incalcuiahie ecolo>:ical
the rest of the Sierra C'luh signiticance.
a rej^ion
that
James
rhe Interior was the single
most disastrous environmental decision
and
ot the century,
re-
garded Reagan himself as hostile to the environment.
The awards and decade and into
named
Hasselhlad Medal, fa\'orite
tributes continued through his eighth
Swedes awarded
his ninth. In P'Sl the after the
hini the
man who created one of
his
cameras, and in the same year he was awarded an hon-
orary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Har\-ard L'niversity (his first
such award came from the L'niversity of California at
Berkeley in 1961). In 1982 he received the French Legion of
Merit. For his eightieth birthday, the pianist Vladimir .Ashkenazy played for him at his home. However, even decades of
mountain climbing couLln't m.ike
1^7^' lie
underwent successful
a p.icem.iker
on April
As
is
was
installed.
his heart last forexer. In
triple bypass surgery,
Ansel
Adams
and
1982
in
died ot heart failure
22, 1984.
often the cise with great figures, Adams's imp.ict upon
the world has continued, and will endure, long after his death.
Thanks
Wilson and Alan Cran-
to rhe efforts of Senators Pete
ston, rhe California legislature passed the California Wilder-
ness
Bill,
designating more than 100,000 acres of the Sierra as
Adams
the Ansel
Wilderness
.Area. C^n the
hisdearh, an 11,760-foot peak
at the
first
.inniversary of
head of rhe Lyell Fork
the Merced River, in Yosemite Nation. il Park, was
named Mr. Ansel Adams.
ot
officially
Sevenil ot his books have beeii
published posthumously, including his autobiography, with
Mary
and major exhibitions
Street Alinder,
been held But
it is
in
his art, of course, that .surely
Adams once
knew
in
demand. rial,
works have
his gift to the world.
to
in.ide a creative
an environmental
the creative impulse on
command
Adams, was "the exact opposite of the
human-interesr
.
issue;
advance precisely what he would photo-
graph bccau.se he could not Art, for
is
he never intention, iliy
said that
photograph that related directly that he never
of his
San Francisco and Washington.
.
.
and popular.
.
.
It
relates to the
picto-
depth
of experience and perception." Although he believed that
photographs of nature were not necessarily
artistic,
nature that was his never-ending inspiration, and
all
it
was
that he
could find to compare with the splendor ot the natural universe
was the creative work of the
human
spirit.
Ansel
Adams
un-
loubtedly counted himself among "the relatively few authentic creators of [his] time,"
with eternity."
19
who
ptissessed, in truth, "a
reMmance
20
Canyons and Caverns Ansel
Adams traveled
Grand Canvon and Carlsbad Ca\crns
to
National Parks as part ot
tlie
Mural rrojcct,
to photojiraph national parks tions,
and other
the Interior. terior
sites
The
a
szovernmcnt plan
ot the
Department
One on
ot
mid-1930s, was to result either
in the
largement to mural
si:e,
which would then be hung
At once the
throughout
October 1941, he had succeeded
in his
around the back roads ot
New
electric
Adams
ot that tall driving
Mexico, taking pictures and
Adams continued
northern Rockies, and by
Mural Project was abandoned on
|ulv
departed from the Interior Department
1,
The
not stop
this did
national parks.
He
applied
Adams from
for,
his
and received,
a
work
in
L.iter, alter
Adams
at
Whites' and prepared to \-iew the
owing
largely to the
which illuminated the limestone formations.
He
and
tried to visualize a
more
natural, cave-
took the ca\'ern tour (experiencing "absolute
made
and resolved
to return at a
several nega-
later date with more extension
the magnificent
Canyon de
Chelly. Navi-
Adams
dro\-e through
-
he was lucky - giant mudholes and
if
tlooded-out washes, at one point making only sixty miles In
Guggenheim
during the worst rainy season in twenty-five
fifteen hours,
years.
ot
Canyon de de
Chelly, in the heart of Navajo country,
Although
sense of spiritual power and sheer physical scale, An.sel
Alaska.
claims to have his
first visit
to the Southwest, in
visual tour
1927, Adams had
light
and almost primordial force of the
The Grand Canyon
extremely
fragile.
The
permanence; there
and rcKk. Water, in the rural
is
of
desert. Like
high mountain regions, the desert appears rugged but
is
in truth
Southwest. Sheep
trails
land's eternal contours, are gentle
life
as air,
is
his best
is
Adams
photographs on the rim
also not easy to photograph.
while up
to eighteen miles
effect of depth, so crucial in a
c
it
inspiration,
Adams managed
is
"Grand Canyon from North Rim, 1941. Grand Canyon National Park, Ari»>na
21
top
separate one side of the
often
filled is
tremendous
with ha:e.
The
almost impossible skill,
and obvious
to achieve images of these sub-
lime places that few before or since can match.
eye, while paved
The
above the canyon
a mile
may
photograph,
to realize. Still, with hard work,
largely absent
and arroyos, following the
on the
li
canyon from the other. The sky
nothing to hide the huge vistas ot sand
human
c
some rock formations can tower
floor,
lack of trees contributes to the feeling of
as basic to
made some
a
its
that canyon.
been captivated by the diversity of geographic forms, the everchanging
force.
is
often stymied by
artists are
America's national parks and monuments, even traveling to the land of the greatest wilderness in the United States,
From
dim
gating the roads around the canyons was quite an adventure.
in the
making extensive photographs ot many
light
Grand Canyon and
project
Fellowship in 1946, which was renewed in 1948. By 1950
Adams succeeded
Mexico."
His outdoor subjects were more inspiring: the .iwesome
was not revived after the war, and the murals were never made.
However,
most famous
cords and lights.
the
W42. Harold Ickes
in 1946.
New
his
feared that the lighting was arranged merely to provide
like print.
tives, II,
Adams; he jumped out ot the
darkness and the nmst profound silence!"),
train.
War
to
a challenging subject,
a theatrical effect,
his travels, this time in the
Unfortunately, due to the pressure of World
came
"Moonrise, Hernande:,
They proved
taking in the subtle but powerful mystery ot the desert. In the spring of 1942
with
caverns.
quest and was out on the
much
visualization
and crew pulled up
By
road with his eight-year-old son, Michael, and one of his best
Cedric Wright. They spent
i.lay
through White Sands National Monument,
pa.ssing
the late 1930s and into the 1940s he courted Ickes with the express purpose ot winning the Mural Project commission.
back u< Santa Fe alter an unsuecesstul
up the camera, and soon had perhaps
negati\'e, it:
to photograph Carlsbad Caverns. Several days
lieaLliiii^
car, set
D.C.
Adams knew a great opportunity when he saw
friends,
way
the camera, approaching the village ot Hernande: near sunset.
in the
oflicesot the Interior Department building located in Washing-
ton,
Adams
such affront, signs for Whites' Cabins, greeted
his
were
in
imajjes suitable tor en-
large paintinjjs or in photiigniphic
assault
before enciiuntering the endless billboards, An.sel and Michael
project, as conceived hy Secretary ot the In-
Harold Ickes
,iiul
the senses.
and monuments, Indian reserva-
under the control
up the land
roads, auto camps, aiul billboards break
ANSEL ADAMS
22
CANYONS AND CAVERNS "Gr;ind Criinyon National Park,"
Grand Canyon National
U
Park, Arizona
ANSEL ADAMS "Grand Canyon from South Rim, 1941,' Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
^^-
-J^dir^
m^^^mim,
:%
# .^ -^a^^t^^^-"^" * i
•
.A"
/
24
'
.i/
-W
•
>*^^
CANYONS AND CAVHRNS
25
ANSEL ADAMS
"Grand Canyon National Park," Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
26
CANYONS AND CAVERNS
"Grand Canydn CiranJ
Nati(»nal Park,"
Canyon Natinnal 27
Park, Arizona
ANSEL ADAMS "Grand Canyon National Park," Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
'
'
^
I'»
CANYONS AND CAX'ERNS
29
ANSEL ADAMS
30
CANYONS AND CAVERNS "Grand Canyon National Park," Grand Canyon National Park. Arizona
31
ANSEL ADAMS
"In the Queen's
Chamber,"
Carlsbad Caverns National Park,
32
New Mexico
CANYONS AND CAVERNS
"Formarion.'i alone the wall ut the
BiK RNlal Sprini; Home," Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico
3}
ANSEL ADAMS
"The Giant Domes
in the interior ot
Carlsbad Caverns National Park,
34
Carlsbad Caverns,
New Mexico
CANYONS AND CAVERNS
"hurmiitiiins, almii; fniil in tlic Rit: Rikhii.
K-yonJ the Temple ot the Sun," Carl»haJ Caverns National Park,
35
New Mexico
ANSEL ADAMS
"The Giant Dome,
largest stalagmite thus far discovered,
Carlsbad Caverns National Park,
36
New Mexico
CANYONS AND CAVERNS
"Fiirmation* above
Green Like,"
Carlsbad Cavern* Niitional Park,
37
New Mexicn
ANSEL ADAMS "Canyon de Chelly," Canyon de Chelly, Arizona
r>M«i
38
,
-ir.^,^..
^ .%^—
>
:.
-
^
CANYONS AND CAVERNS
?9
40
Mountains and Adams had
Ansel
he
isitcd
\
to wait until he
was
Once he
the mountains.
.kkiirion to his
toiirtcen w.irs >>L1 hctorc
company ot perhaps - was the
torrid thirst that
his siilitude.
and the eternal horiron of
changing
light
and scruh
flora at
were what interested him:
Adams was
fined his
He
cut his teeth
Sierra. His
rememhered
clearly
the
little
his
first
wanted
Sierra
freak blizzards,
He knew even
dawn. life
sur\'ived
abandoned
valleys,
re-
he
him
high Sierra;
its
He
was captivated by the
unusual sharpness ,ind
claritN
to visualize images with dramatic contrasts
This
is
the expressive style with which he
in-
and bold
made
all
iif
.md
Adams was sor Joseph
not the
first
photographer-mountaineer. Profes-
LeConte, Francis Farquhar and William Colby
the Sierra Club, and Walter Huber were decessors and models. These men,
bears,
some
among Adams's of
of
pre-
uhoni were friends
of John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club and naturalist par ex-
Cas-
cellence, took very seriously Muir's admonition to "do some-
as in the Rockies,
and other mountain ranges, Adams stocxl as
he
said,
felt
"on
the magic of the tlie
thing
Adams's
essential
always included a camera.
It is
fiir
pret his beloved
them through
mountaineering equipment
Through
easy to overlook the tact that in
order to photograph mountains, unless one always wants to
shoot from the base up, one must climb them. This
is
mountains through
his art
.md
to trv to save
political activism.
nature,
tnith of his
own
touched by nature,
easier in
make the mountains glad." Adams was this spirit. Ir mo\ ed him both to inter-
wilderness and
strongly mtlueneed by
higii altars,
within the portals of the temple." course,
He
an attack o( appendicitis while thirteen miles
dawn wind and
Of
light.
contraNt ot the mountains and high counfrv skies.
encountered
- unwillingly - to
preferred an impressionistic interprerarion
photographs to convey.
his
textures.
forever. In countless hikes over the years
his food
also h,id time to
his later photographs, a style clearlv inspired by the dram.i
then that the mountains
from the nearest help. In the Sierra,
cool
spired
he
the fresh fragrance from the Digger pines,
he walked alone over peaks and through
cades,
came
there
sixty years later
clouds above the granite peaks, the clear, rosy glow ot
had changed his
even
first trip
More than
at
chmh.
method throughout the U)20s on long expeditions
light in the
on the high
exuixT.mce
tain ot the essential simplicity, yet strength ot character,
of the high country'.
during a family vacation in W16.
.irtist's
alone and with the Sierra Club, becoming more and more cer-
m.m
a
the m.ijestv and
experimenting with composition, texture, and
his works.
primanlv
onK
of his subject (a style he quickly abandoned), and was already
Rocks, snow, mountains, skies, and long views into renn>te valleys
Adams's most linllinm
personal approach to mount. iin photograiiliy.
At age eighteen he
the shore, iio\\e\er,
among
own
develop his
tiie
a son of the sea. Despite the possi-
there are few photographs ot the ocean
ot
While exploring the high country, Adams
>o,
need. Growing up hy the Pacific Ocean,
satisfies this
Adams might have hecome hilities for
- more
liini
Some
to retleet not
attaining the perfect roost after a long and often grueling
For some, the steadv crasliing
waves, the lonely cries of gulls
tKean
knew no end. He lo\ed
people, yet just as important to
gear!
splendor ot the natural scene hut also the
return again and again, as though the mountains were water
and he was driven hy a
camping
mount, lin phoroL;r,iphs seem
woiiL!
tinallv uot there, lie
Skies
Adams was able
soul, if
to discover the
meaning and
lie beliesed others could be simiLirK
they would t)nly
listen.
Adams was
equally
n)day's world of sophisticated equipment and lightweight alloys, but Adams had a different experience. During one ex-
creative in the mountains, the desert, at the ocean, or in a cave.
pedition in the snowy high country, for instance, he hauled
there,
around a camera pack weighing forty pounds, including his
beauty" and was inspired, again and again, to pass that feeling on.
"Korona view camera, several
lenses,
two
filters,
six
Still,
holders
it
After
may
containing twelve glass plates, and a heavy w(K)den tripod" - in
"In Rjicicy Mountain National Park," Rc
41
was to the mountains he always returned. Pethaps abo\e
all,
all,
where he achie\ed
a
was
"magical union with
he once observed, "no matter how
be, a large granite
it
sophisticatetl
mountain cannot be denied."
you
ANSEL ADAMS
"Zion Nationul Park," Zion National Park, Utah
42
MOUNTAINS ANP
SKIES
"From GoiriK-ro-thc-Sun Chalet,' Montana
Glacier National Park,
43
ANSEL ADAMS
44
I
MOUNTAINS AND SKIES "Mt. Moran t
45
ir.iiul
iind jacksdii
Lake from
Siyn.i
Teton National Park, WyoiiunL;
llill
ANSEL ADAMS "Grand Teton," Grand Teton National
Park,
Wyoming
46
1
MOUNTAINS AND SKIES
47
ANSEL ADAMS
"Tetons trom Signal Mountain,"
Grand Teton National
48
Park,
Wyoming
MOUNTAINS AND
"Grand Teton," Grand Teton National
49
SKIES
Park,
WyominK
ANSEL ADAMS
50
MOL'NTAINS AND SKIES "CiMUer
<
'mm^'
51
Center R:isiii," Canynn, Calilornia
Pcrtk,
KiiiK^ River
ANSEL ADAMS "Near Death Valley," Death Valley National Monument, Calitomia
52
MOUNTAINS AND
r
53
SKltS
ANSEL ADAMS "Kearsage Pinnacles," Kings River Canyon, Calitomia
54
I
MOUNTAINS AND SKIES
55
ANSEL ADAMS
"Bishop Pass," Kings River Canyon, California
56
MOUNTAINS ANP SKIES "Bixinny Ri\cr, Kinys Region," Kinys Ri\cr t'anvoii, (.".ilitornui
.*..-*''ii'
.*7»f-.'^X4-_*'ifc
•:^/Wi>;".-.
57
^afjif.:,vijxy)u.
>,
.
V
ANSEL ADAMS
58
MOL'NTAINSANDSKIHS "Cn.nids- White Pass," Kings River Canyon, California
59
ANSEL ADAMS
-^^^>^
K*--'^-r*-^, "
WiKj-?^
"
-^^«nr!:^^-
'
'r
i
^f?sriiwpi»»..,.^^^^^
J-^M,
vi'i '-^
60
.;:J
MOUNTAINS ANP SKIHS "l.ony's Peak froin
1
Rocky Moiintiun
61
RoaJ,"
jNliUioii.il I'.irk, l .'olor.ido
ANSEL ADAMS "Evening,
McDonald Lake," Montana
Glacier National Park,
^SiSV-
62
MOUNTAINS AN L1 SKIES
63
ANSEL ADAMS
"Long's Peak,"
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
64
MOL'NTAINS ANPSKIHS
Woody Lake," KinK> River Canyon, California
"Pciik ;ih
CLOSH-UPS
1941,"
Biiuldcr l")am, 0>li>radi)
81
ANSEL ADAMS
"Moraine,"
Rocky Mountain National
82
Park, Colorado
PORTRAITS AND CU)SE-UrS
"Riicks at Silver Gate,"
Yellowstone National Park.
83
WyominR
ANSEL ADAMS - Fountain Geyser Pool," Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming "Jupiter Terrace
84
PORTRAITS AND CLOSH-Ul^S
M
85
ANSEL ADAMS
i
"The Fishing Cone - Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
86
PORT RAITS "Flock in
Owens
AXn iXOSE-LTS
Owens
V.illov, I'-Nl,"
Valley, Calitorni.i
87
ANSEL ADAMS Dome, Apple Orchard, Yosemite," Yosemite National Park, California "Halt
88
PORTRAITS ANH CLOSB-LIPS
89
90
Indian Life, Past and Present Nor all
Adams's subjects are of rhe narunil world. Buildings,
ot
people, and
People are "natural" too, ot course, and yet are not thou>:hr
clift
alls
or adobe.
a kind of perfection, then an\
is
less
thinj.; else
than perfect, maybe even slightly
he
as
It,
is
that each ot his
Adams
cended trom rhe
must
was with creativity and the human
Although he disagreed with
member of Group and "symbolic"
in
spirit
artist.
Adams
west as "almost natural."
sky.
And
before rhe
in the east to the
which the
and dust of the
a
desert.
He worked
that
would accord with
The
cliffs
stripes,
while rhe recesses
in
green
filter
ing rhe
Adams was
ot
velled that the
that
man can
itself.
Adams
live
subjects of
influenced in his phorography of rhe Sourhwest,
sorting
some photographs he made
in
parri-
When
the Canyoii
merelv reconls
.is
iiad
much
people .md
it,"
and "in-
places, the best images he considered "glowing preceptions ot
the scenes, people, and the
One
He
Timorhy O'Sullnan.
made more
spirit ot earlier
are
hoped
ro emulare
them and even
thousand years
into a
new realm
ot
Adams's Indian photographs tribes.
clearly while darken-
O'Sullivan, nearly seven decades earlier. While he found
tense" by the presence of rhe Navajo.
Most of the
used a
early phoriigia|-'hy sh.illdw,
with nature and sometimes enhance
members of the Pueblo or Navajo
more
He
photographed rhe exacr scene, from rhe exact position,
mar-
Navajo of the Canyon de Chelly "demonstrare
declared that his experience of the canyon was
reflected light.
de Chelly, he was startled and pleased to note that he had
Mesa Verde, as well as the pueblos of the Rio Grande Valley, almost seem to be an extension of the land
which the ruins stand are
other work, by early American photographers.
Adams was
dwellings at
d.irk
in the recesses.
deal in hundreds of years. Furthermore, they tended to live in cliff
on
hard ro achieve the lighting
ro define rhe sunlit areas
shadows
as in
environment, so that the
site to site
rend to ha\e a yellowish color marked with
cularly admired rhe images ot
their
the
at the capability ot
his visualization ot the cliff dwellings.
shadowed and illuminated mainly by
activities of
Second World War many Indians
in the west.
difficult in
western photngr.iphers - rra\eling from
the St>uthwest were living in a way that had not changed a great
harmony with
Grand Canyon
the back of a mule - to attain successful results amid the heat
people were dwarfed by the sheer scope and wonder ot rhe earth
and
U.S., inhabit areas ot north-
e.irlier
is
Mexico's
live there in a
and northeastern .Arizona, trom the
trurh.
Adams saw the Indians of the SouthMany Indians lived, and still live, in
incredible natural beauty, in
rribes in rhe
fellow
believed that "art
New
still
des-
the most populous of
and
a tricnd
definitions."
easy to believe that
The Navajo,
and
and ultimate
emphasis on the "introspective"
photography,
ot years
Travel and phorographic condirions were
His concern
their
may ha\e
Indians
Thev ha\c inhabited
hundreds
New Mexico
Canyon de Chelly
Tewa
Southwest, and Adams often wondered
Mmor White,
f/64, for his
and aesthetic
i>f
an
does not tolerate the dissections of cold critical
mystique and
regions
western
clearly thought of hmiselt as an artist - a all
Pueblo, or
for
Native Americans
the thirteenth
unknown, the Anasa:i abandoned
semi-traditional w^ay.
its
in
south, there to disappear into history with
.Anasari.
Rio Grande Valley
sinister.
subjects must be taken on
great crafrsman, to be sure, but above
The
barely a trace.
dwellings, and pueblos?
answer
terms.
analysis
water was accessible, and rhe torrress
homes and migrated
made
then are we to make of his exquisite phottigraphs ot
One
in the valley,
century, iov reasons
be somethins
It is
was game
ot
Park was inhabited by excellent home: there
enrirely ot natural mat-
implies, nature
own
now Mesa Verde National The cliffs pro\'ided an
they ditfer trom mere stones or dirt in that they have
been transformed by human hands into w
Indians,
is
was \irrually unassailable. Some time
trees.
"narural," or at least they are
What
what
Anasa:i Indians;
.Ancienr nuns are also
mountains or
as natural as
erials, yet
ago,
ancienr ruins arc also a part ot his repertoire.
"Canyon dc Chelly," Canyon dc Chelly, Ariaina 91
ot
days."
to push his art
perception and awareness.
As such he
beyond them,
ANSEL ADAMS
"Church, Taos Puehlo," Taos Puehlo, New Mexico
92
INLMAN
LIFE,
PAST ANL^ PRLSHNT
"Dance. San lldcfonM) Piichlo," San IIJvfonMi Piichlu, New Mexico
93
ANSEL ADAMS i^
C
—
-.-..V.
P^
I
"Dance, San Ildetonso Pueblo," San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico
94
INLMAN
LIFH,
PAST
AND PRtSHNT
"Dance, San Ildcfonsu PucHlo," San lldctiinsi) Puchli), New Mcxia)
95
ANSEL ADAMS
"Navajo
Woman
Canvon de
and
Opposite:
Intant,
Chellv, Arizona
"Navajo
Woman
Canyon de
96
and Child,"
Chelh', Arizona
INIMAN
LIKE,
PAST
97
AND rRhSENT
ANSEL ADAMS
"At San Ildetonso Pueblo," San Ildetonso Pueblo, New Mexico
98
i
INIMAN
LIFE.
PAST ANl^ TRHSENT
"NavaJK Girl,"
Canyon dc
Chclly, Arizona
99
ANSEL ADAMS
"Acoma
Acoma
Puehlo,"
Pueblo,
New Mexico
100
f
INIMAN
LIFE,
PAST
ANL')
PRtSHNT
"Church, Acomn Puehlo," Acomii Pufhiii, New Mexico
101
ANSEL ADAMS "Walpi, Arizona, Walpi Arizona
l')41,
102
INIM.AN
1.1
hi;,
PAST ANP PRESENT
103
^ ANSEL ADAMS
"At Taos Pueblo," Taos Puehlo, New Mexico
104
INIMAN "Cum
liclkl,
Lll-'H,
PAST ANll PRESENT
liidi;in F;irin "
Arizona,
in R.iin, l^Ml,
Tiiha City, An:nn,i
105
m-ar
TuKi
(.
jt\
,
ANSEL ADAMS
"Interior at
Ruin
C'lift
Mesa Verde National
Palace,"
Opposite:
Park, Colorado
"Cliff Palace,"
Mesa Verde National
106
Park, Colorado
INDIAN
LIFE,
PAST
107
AND PRESENT
ANSEL ADAMS
"Cliff Palace,"
Mesa Verde National
Opposite: Park, Colorado
L'ncitled
Mesa Verde National
108
Park, Colorado
INIMAN
LIFE.
PAST
109
AND PRESENT
ANSEL ADAMS "Mesa Verde National Park," Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
110
List of Acoma
Pueblo
At San
Ildetonso Pueblo
100
At Taos Pueblo Bishop Pass Bearing River, Kings Region
Boulder Dam, Colorado
Boulder Dam, Colorado
Canyon de Chelly Canyon de Chelly Center Peak, Center Basin
Church, Taos Pueblo
Acoma
Church,
Pueblo
Cliff Palace Cliff Palace
Clouds - White Pass
Corn
Field, Indian
Tuba
Farm near
City, Arizona
Dance, San Ildefonso Pueblo Dance, San Ildefonso Pueblo Dance, San Ildetonso Pueblo Evening,
The
McDonald Lake Cone -
Fishing
Yellowstone Lake Flock
m Owens Valley,
1941
Formations above Green Lake Formations along the wall of the Big
Room, near
Crystal Spring
the
Home
Photographs
^.•"
06034>
"'45863"06034""
i
ISBN 0-517-DbD34-S