Ansel Adams critic

FYI there is an excellent article in the July/August issue of The

Atlantic Monthly on 'Ansel Adams at 100' show:

<a

href="http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/07/brower.htm">http://www

.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/07/brower.htm</a>

Interesting review. Basically a savaging of Adams critics,

including John Swarkowski who is the "Ansel Adams at 100"

exhibit curator, whom the author feels are too cloistered

(imprisoned?) in their New York City towers.<P>I particularly

liked the author's recollection of Adams calling Edward Steichen

"the Anti-Christ of Photography." I also relished Mr. Brower

pointing out that in Adam's landscapes ,devoid of people, there

is very much a person present in every square centimeter of his

prints and that person being Mr. Adams. But I disagree with

Brower's assesment of Diane Arbus's work and his rejection of

the value of earlier prints. This latter point seems predicated on

his youthful associations with Adams and ignores Adam's own

assesment of the negative as being similar to a musical

composition in that it might be interpreted differently at a later

time or possibly by a different printer.<P>If you have read this far

you might want to search out <B><U>Ansel Adams: A

Biography</U></B> by Mary Street Alinder to get a fleshed out

background on much of what Mr. Brower writes about.

I really wish I could make it to that show. I received one of the books as a gift but the show sounds fantastic.

I got to see a retrospective here in Tucson at the CCP, and it was amazing. I mean you sit there in front of an image you have seen in books and magazines and somehow it is new all of a sudden. Seeing his work in person is truly an experience.

 

I sum him up like this:

 

Was Ansel Adams a great photographer?

Yes.

Don't a bunch of people hate him?

Yes, that's part of why he is a great photographer. Ever hear of a famous person who didn't piss somebody off?

Bob

 

I don't think people hated him. I think that they were secretly jealous of him!!

 

Kevin

There was an <A HREF="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=001bTy">earlier thread</A> on the "Ansel Adams at 100" exhibition. I went to the one in San Francisco during the last week of the show and had to wait in line for an hour and half. Since Adams was a native to this area, I guess people are particularly excited about him.

<P>

Adams certainly has a lot of impressive images, but perhaps since I don't shoot black and white (not since I was in high school), I appreciate the current landscape photographers such as David Muench more. However, Adams was a pioneer. Without his early work, landscape photography probably wouldn't be the way it is today.

I also saw the ansel adam exhibit in san francisco. i actually went twice. as a life long california resident it is even more impressive because many of the areas are places i have been and tried to photgraph myself. edward weston is currently being shown in san francisco at MOMA. it is very well done and i will probably try to get there a second time.

 

greg

Kevin -

 

Good point!