Ansel Adams Barry Pritzker Ansel A. dams Barry Pritzker Withmore than 80 black-and-whitephotographs Ansel Adams, certainly the best known and probably the most popular photo- grapher in the world, has inspired mil- lions ot people with his spectacular photographs of natural scenes. An in- credibly energetic man with a passion for excellence, he made more than 40,000 negatives, signed 10,000 fine prints, showed his work in over five hundred exhibitions worldwide, and sold over one million copies of his books in a career that spanned almost seventy years. From the beginning, carefully con- trolled, top-quality printing, as well as a focus on the unspoiled natural world, were the trademarks of Adams's legen- dary style. Two key events occurred in Adams's life, without which he may well have pursued his love of music and become a concert pianist. At the age of fourteen, on vacation with his family at Yosemite National Park, he experienced the Sierra Nevada mountains for the first time. He instantly fell in love with their majesty and sheer physical beauty, and returned there at least once every year ofhis 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, that through — photography which at that time was not generally respected as a fine art—he could creatively express his most pro- foundspiritualsentiments. One of Adams's most enduring legacies as an artist is his conviction that beauty is indistinguishable from truth. He became a political activist, fighting for the preservation of the wilderness that so inspired him, in the hope that fu- ture generations would also have a chance to love and explore the natural world. Teacher, artist, mountaineer and environmentalist, Ansel Adams de- veloped his photographic skill to near perfection, and offered in his photo- graphs a world resonant with the "Whit- manesque" aspect of America, optimis- tic, celebratory and perhaps ideal in its magnificence, yet not, after all, so un- like the grandeurofourown. Digitized by the Internet Archive 2010 in http://www.archive.org/details/anseladamsOOadam Ansel Adams Ansel Adams Barry Pritzker Crescent Books New Yorlc/Avenel, NewJersey © Copyright 1991 Brompton BooksCorporation All rightsreserved. Nopartot thispublication mayhe reproduced, stored inaretrievalsystem ortransmitted inanyformhyanymeans, electronic, mechanical, photocopyingorotherwise, without first obtaining writtenpermissionofthecopyrightowner. This 1991 editionpublished hyCrescent Books, distributed byOutlet BookCompany, Inc., a Random HouseCompany, 40 EngelhardAvenue Avenel, NewJersey07001 Producedby Brompton BooksCorporation 15 Sherwood Place Greenwich, CT06830 ISBN 0-517-06034-5 876543 Printed in HongKong Mostofthephotographs in thiscollec- Acknowledgments tionwere reproducedfrom negativesot The author and publisher would like to thank the following originalAnselAdamsprintspreserved hy people who helped in the preparation ot this book: Design 23; theNationalArchives ratherthanfrom Susan Bernstein, theEditor; and RitaLongabucco, thepicture originalnegatives. editor. Thisbook hasnotbeen authorized hy andhas no connectionwithAnsel Adamsand theAnselAdams Publishing RightsTrust. Page 1: "Grand Canyon National Park," Grand CanyonNational Park, Arizona. Page 2: "Yellowstone Falls," YellowstoneNational Park, Wyoming. Page 5: "Court ot the Patriarchs," Zion National Park, Utah. Contents Introduction 6 Portraits and Close-ups 72 Canyons and Caverns 20 Indian Life, Past Mountains and Skies 40 AND Present 90 List of Photographs 112 Introduction One alwayswonders at the role otchance in human events. In however. Wheneverpossiblehe liked to indulge inhisfavorite the spring of 1916 tourteen-year-old Ansel Adams, never a hobby, photography. ThroughouthislifeAnselmaintainedan healthy boy, took to his bed again. This time the problem was enduring admiration and respect for his father. only a cold; young Ansel was pleased that the illness was not Ansel's relationship to his mother, Olive, was not as close. serious enough to prevent him from accompanying his family Her family, the Brays, came from Baltimore, although they onavacationthatwasscheduledforearlythatsummer, though moved to Carson City, Nevada, in the mid-nineteenth the destination was as yet undecided. century. Shortly after her marriage to Carlie, Olive began to To helphim pass the time in bed hisAuntMarygave him a sufferfromaprogressivelydebilitatingdepression. Anselnever book entitled In the Heart oj the Sierras, by J. M. Hutchings. quite understood the reasons for his mother's condition. For Ansel fell in love with the descriptions and illustrations of yearshe knewonly thathisparents were unhappy and thathis thosemountainsandconvincedhisfamilytoheadeasttoYose- mother's father and sister, who lived with the Adamses until mite for their vacation. He was to return at least once every their deaths, were a financial burden for his father. yearofhis life. Althoughas ayoungmanhe studied music and Ansel Adams did not easily adapt to the discipline oftradi- seriously considered a career as a concert pianist, many years tional schooling as a child. Why sit in school when you could laterAnselAdams, oneottheworld'sbest-lovedandmostsuc- be outdoors? He was probably hyperactive, and certainly was cessful photographers, said of hrst time he saw the Sierra, "I physically ill and emotionally distraught with frustrating knew my destiny when I first experienced Yosemite." regularity. By the age ofthirteen it was clear to all that Ansel Ansel Adams received his first camera from his father, a was not succeeding in school. Despite his beliefin education, Kodak#1 Box Brownie, in 1916. At the timephotographywas Carlie Adams was enough of an individualist and a noncon- barely 100yearsold, andtakenseriouslyasanartformbyonlya formist to appreciate the uniqueness ofhis son. He proposed a handful ofpeople. In a lifetime devoted to expressinghis own radical plan: for the coming year, Ansel would not attend creativity and to establishing firmly the validity of artistic classes at school. Instead, he would travel every day to the photography, Adamspersonally mademore than40,000nega- Panama-Pacific International Exposition, held in San Fran- tives, signed 10,000 fine prints, exhibited his work in more cisco that year to celebrate the openingofthe Panama Canal, than 500 exhibitions, and sold over one million copies ofhis to learn what he could about the world. books. Through his photographs he made millions ofpeople This exposition was Adams's classroom tor a year. Some- aware not only of the natural beauty of the western United times his father would accompany him, and together they Statesbutalso, asanardentandoutspokenconservationist, of would explore the exhibits. The exposition also offered the theneedtopreserveandprotectthatbeautyforthepleasureof opportunity to study a wide selection ofcontemporary paint- future generations. ing, including works by Cezanne, Gauguin, and Monet. At a AnselEastonAdamswasbornonFebruary20, 1902, inwhat showayearlater, Adamswasexposedtothe latest ideas inart- was then a natural and somewhat wild part ot San Francisco. the cubist works ofPicasso and Braque. Outontheduneswestofthecity, thefamilyhomecommanded The stimulation and informal structure ot the exposition a magniticent view ot the Golden Gate, the rolling hills of coupled with a series ot private tutors, succeeded where more Marin County, and the Pacific Ocean. Growing up on the traditional meanshadfailed: Adamsfinallygraduatedfrom the centralCalifornia coast taught him to appreciate the light and eighthgradeandreceivedhisgrammarschooldiploma in 1917. mysteryofprofoundnaturalbeauty. Hisfather, Charles Hitch- About that time, he began to take an interest in an old piano cock Adams, encouraged that view, and added to it a healthy that had sat tor years in a corner ot the living room. He soon dose ot the Puritan work ethic and sense ot duty. taughthimselftoplay the instrument, whileCarlie, pleasedby TheelderAdamshadanenormousinfluenceonhisson. The the talent and initiative displayed by his son, arranged for Adams family originally hailed from New England. Charles formal lessons. He found piano teachers who maintained the Adams, though bom in Calitornia, had a strong belief in the highest standards and insisted that theirstudentsdo the same. Emersonianidealotselfrelianceand theprimacyotthehuman Eventually Adams became an accomplished pianist. His spirit. He conveyed this to Ansel in many ways: in his intense musicalstudieshelpedhim tostructurehisliteby teachinghim relationship with nature; in his example ot strict personal both discipline and the value ot striving to achieve his best. honesty and integrity, despite a continuing series offinancial Aftergraduation, Adams took ajob inSan Francisco with a disasters; and inhisutterconfidence in thecreativespiritofhis photo-tinishing company. Two years later, bored with the re- son. Charles, or Carlie, as he was known, was not all work, petitive nature ot the work and \'ery much under the intluence