Ansel Adams: early works

Jodi Throckmorton

doi:10.1117/12.850845

17 February 2010 Ansel Adams: early works

Jodi Throckmorton

Proceedings Volume 7527, Human Vision and Electronic Imaging XV; 75270T (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.850845
Event: IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging, 2010, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

Ansel Adams (1902-1984), photographer, musician, naturalist, explorer, critic, and teacher, was a giant in the field of landscape photography. In his images of the unspoiled Western landscape, he strove to capture the sublime: the transcendentalist concept that nature can generate the experience of awe for the viewer. Many viewers are familiar with the heroic, high-contrast prints on high-gloss paper that Adams made to order beginning in the 1970s; much less well known are the intimate prints that the artist crafted earlier in his career. This exhibition focuses on these masterful small prints from the 1920s into the 1950s. During this time period, Adams's printing style changed dramatically. The painterly, soft-focus, warm-toned style of the Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras from the 1920s evolved into the sharp-focus style of the f/64 school of photography that Adams co-founded in the 1930s with Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham. After World War II, Adams opted for a cooler, higher-contrast look for his prints. Throughout the various styles in which he chose to work, Adams explored the power of nature and succeeded in establishing landscape photography as a legitimate form of modern art.

Citation Download Citation

Jodi Throckmorton "Ansel Adams: early works", Proc. SPIE 7527, Human Vision and Electronic Imaging XV, 75270T (17 February 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.850845

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