Jim Jones
17-Aug-2013, 14:08
Thursday I returned from a 300 mile (each way) overnight trip to the Ansel Adams exhibit in Peoria. It was worth the time and expense for someone so far from big city galleries. In addition to 120 photographs, both very rare vintage and recent, there were memorabilia such as two of a very young Ansel's photo albums, and an 8x10 Deardorff with a 1957 10" Wide Field Ektar and the huge case for the kit. The museum store had a few books on Adams, some posters, and a very limited range of inexpensive, but well done, reproductions double matted in what looks like cheap mat board. These prints were distributed by www.museumgraphics.com. These appear to be different than those available from www.anseladams.com.
I strongly suggest that anyone planning to visit the exhibit do plenty of homework in advance. Comparing the exhibit with about 27 images that also were published in Ansel Adams: Classic Images was illuminating. The original prints were usually darker, but retained a hint of subtle detail in the shadows that was sometimes lost in the book. The book was posthumously published by the New York Graphic Society and Little, Brown and Company, with which Adams had a long-time relationship, and who still maintain the quality of reproduction that Adams insisted on. Another book that gives insight into Adams and some of the photographs in the exhibit is Ansel Adams by Mary Street Alinder. It has a whole chapter on Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941. Anyone planning on attending the exhibit can go to http://www.peoriariverfrontmuseum.org/whats-happening-now/exhibitions/intl-features-gallery. and browse the site for exhibit hours and location. You can also contact me at jjones@greenhills.net for more information.
I strongly suggest that anyone planning to visit the exhibit do plenty of homework in advance. Comparing the exhibit with about 27 images that also were published in Ansel Adams: Classic Images was illuminating. The original prints were usually darker, but retained a hint of subtle detail in the shadows that was sometimes lost in the book. The book was posthumously published by the New York Graphic Society and Little, Brown and Company, with which Adams had a long-time relationship, and who still maintain the quality of reproduction that Adams insisted on. Another book that gives insight into Adams and some of the photographs in the exhibit is Ansel Adams by Mary Street Alinder. It has a whole chapter on Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941. Anyone planning on attending the exhibit can go to http://www.peoriariverfrontmuseum.org/whats-happening-now/exhibitions/intl-features-gallery. and browse the site for exhibit hours and location. You can also contact me at jjones@greenhills.net for more information.