The University of Richmond Museums presents Ansel Adams: The Man Who Captured the Earth’s Beauty, on view from September 17 to December 6, 2009, in the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature. The exhibition consists of more than twenty black-and-white photographs taken by Ansel Adams (American, 1902-1984) from 1927 to 1960. His dramatic images serve as profound reminders of his reverence for the beauty of the earth and the healing force of nature in our lives.
Ansel Adams (American, 1902-1984), Sand Dunes, Sunrise, Death Valley National Monument, California, (printed 1980), gelatin silver print, 18 1/2 x 11 inches, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Peter G. Scotese, 1986.68.11, © 2009 Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust
Highlights of the exhibition include: Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico; Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California; and Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, California. All the photographs were printed under the artist’s supervision in 1980.
Ansel Adams was more than just a photographer; he was an ardent conservationist of the American landscapes he loved so dearly. He took his first photograph with a Kodak Brownie box camera in Yosemite Valley when he was fourteen. Although he trained for thirteen years as a concert pianist, his true passion was in photography. After studying with photo-finisher Frank Dittman, photography became Adams’ career choice in 1930.
As a young mountaineer, Ansel Adams discovered the natural beauty of the Western landscape. He is perhaps among the last of the romantic artists who saw the great spaces of wilderness as a metaphor for freedom and heroic aspirations. He is certainly among those who have sketched the outlines of a new pictorial understanding of the wild landscape, based on nature’s intimate details and ephemeral gestures.
Adams served as a member of the Sierra Club board of directors from 1934 to 1971. During his lifetime he received numerous awards, but his most treasured was the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded by President Carter in 1980 for his conservation work. His skill as a writer and teacher had a tremendous impact on the history of creative photography. From 1955 until 1984, Adams conducted annual photography workshops, first in Yosemite National Park and later closer to his home in the Carmel Highlands, both in California.
Organized by the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, and curated by Martha T. Mayberry, the exhibition is circulated by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services. The project is coordinated by N. Elizabeth Schlatter, Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions, University of Richmond Museums. The exhibition is made possible in part with the generous support of the University’s Cultural Affairs Committee.
University of Richmond Museums
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University of Richmond, VA 23173
Phone: 804.289.8276
Fax: 804.287.1894
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