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Ansel Adams September 15, 2007–January 27, 2008
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ANSEL ADAMS Walk-Through WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Corcoran Gallery of Art’s newest special exhibition, Ansel Adams (September 15, 2007 – January 27, 2008), is arranged chronologically in several sections: Early Work (including photographs of the High Sierra, Canadian Rockies, and Pueblo Indians), Group f/64: Exploring Straight Photography, Yosemite, The American Southwest, Alfred Stieglitz and New York, The National Parks and Late Work. EARLY WORK In 1927, Adams published his first major landscape series, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, which included Monolith: The Face of Half Dome (1927), an iconic work that represents a turning point in Adams’ career. The photograph marks his first use of “previsualization”—a technique that Adams continued to use throughout the rest of his career—in which he would carefully calculate the effect of a photograph before taking it. Adams was named the Sierra Club’s official photographer in 1928, and the exhibition features a series of mountain views made during an outing to the Canadian Rockies that reveal important technical aspects of his work, including Mount Robson from Mount Resplendent, Canadian Rockies (1928), in which Adams used a telephoto lens to create a stunning close-up image of a mountain that was in fact very far away. Pueblo Indians During his visits to New Mexico in the years that followed, Adams created a series of photographs of the Taos Indian Pueblo. A very rare group of images from this time period, including Eagle Dance, San Ildefonso, Pueblo, New Mexico (1929) and Buffalo Dance, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico—intimate photographs that emphasize the dancers’ costumes, postures and expressions—are highlighted in this section of the exhibition. GROUP f/64: EXPLORING STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY Likewise, Fence Near Tomales Bay, California (1936) depicts a moss-covered fence in the foreground and mountains in the background with extraordinary clarity and detail. Other works on view in this section include the iconic Boards and Thistles, San Francisco (c. 1932), Political Circus, San Francisco (1932), an urban street scene of billboard posters, and Museum Storeroom, de Young Museum, San Francisco (about 1935), a room packed with plaster casts of classical sculptures. YOSEMITE THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST Another photograph from this trip, Aspens, Dawn, Dolores River Canyon (1937), is a striking view of a grove of bare aspen trees that contrasts starkly with the grandeur and more iconic views of Adams’ later trips to the southwest. In the fall of 1941, Adams was commissioned by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a photomuralist to document the National Parks of America. His works were to adorn the new Interior building in Washington, and as the first photographer to be included in this project, Adams again traveled to the American Southwest (Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico) to photograph the Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Zion National Park, Saguaro National Monument, Mesa Verde, Walpi Pueblo and Carlsbad Caverns. In the early weeks of the trip, he made two photographs that would become icons of his career: White House Ruins, Canyon de Chelly, made for the Parks project; and Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, a scene that Adams captured in only one exposure, through a chance encounter with this evocative and dramatic landscape. Adams continued the National Parks project through 1942, creating a series of photographs of Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Teton National Park and a series of the Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone. Also explored in this section of the exhibition are Adams’ photographs of Hornitos, an abandoned mining town located between San Francisco and Yosemite that was a favorite location for the artist. The wide range of subjects available in Hornitos is well represented in seven lesser-known prints from The Lane Collection. Ranging from informal street scenes to carefully composed architectural studies spanning the years 1934 to 1960, these works demonstrate what a rich source of inspiration the little town of Hornitos provided Adams, all just a stone’s throw from Yosemite. In an early enlargement entitled Residents, Hornitos, California (about 1935) Adams sets off the figures of two elderly men against the texture of worn wooden clapboards and the lines created by porch beams, chairs, and windowpanes. The gentlemen look as weathered as the building behind them, and seem to be permanent fixtures on the porch. ALFRED STIEGLITZ AND NEW YORK THE NATIONAL PARKS LATE WORK AND SCREENS showing a wall covered in heavy graffiti. An abstracted landscape, Dunes, Oceano, California (about 1960), depicts contrasting planes of sand through shades of light and dark and varying degrees of texture, while Aspens, Northern New Mexico (1958) is a minimalist view of a grove of bright aspen trees set against a more muted background. Also on view is the iconic Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California (1960), perhaps Adams’ best-known late landscape. Between 1936 and the early 1970s, Adams also created a series of Japanese-style folding screens. The first was a three-panel screen made from an enlargement of his photograph, Leaves, Mills College (c. 1931). He is thought to have produced only about 12 to 15 decorative screens over the course of his career, though few survive. Ansel Adamsfeatures two screens, including the Lane Collection’s Grass and Pool (about 1948) and Leaves, Owens Valley, California (1950), lent by the George Eastman House, Rochester. Adams’ folding screens are rarely exhibited or reproduced, making this an unusual opportunity for Washington viewers. Ansel Adams was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This exhibition is sponsored by Fidelity Investments through the Fidelity Foundation.
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