Some Ansel Adams in Color

[csant]

Hi,
just bumped into a nice little selection of Ansel Adams in Color. Probably not a novelty for most, but still nice and interesting. Enjoy.

[Heroique]

Thanks for the entertaining link – marking the appearance of the book “Ansel Adams in Color” (which I understand is a new revision of the 1993 edition from Little, Brown and Company). It’s a book I’ve never come across.

BTW, my new (Nov.) issue of Smithsonian also takes a look at the new book, printing several of the photos. Looks like they’re Kodachromes taken in the 40’s and 50’s. They show cool effects I just don’t associate with AA.

Very curious – the Smithsonian writer says the Standard Oil Company (or Esso – the precursor of Exxon) purchased reproduction rights to many of these color photos & handed them out to gas station customers with messages like “See your West” to promote driving in America. Sounds like AA's color work sold a lot of gasoline!

Also of interest – AA had plans to make color photography the subject of his 5th volume of his famous series on technique (following The Camera/The Negative/The Print/Polaroid Land Photography) but left us before getting to it.

[Robert Hughes]

Adams, Shmadams - I bet Annie Liebovitz could take pictures like that!

[Darin Boville]

Didn't the Alinder bio talk about Ansel only shooting these under contract to Kodak, etc and never wanted them exhibited--and that they were only published by the Ansel Adams Publishing Trust folks after his death (an contrary to his wishes???)?

--Darin

[Heroique]

Didn't the Alinder bio talk about Ansel only shooting these under contract to Kodak, etc and never wanted them exhibited--and that they were only published by the Ansel Adams Publishing Trust folks after his death (and contrary to his wishes???) --Darin

An interesting observation that may beg for some sleuthing. The Smithsonian writer mentions only “commercial assignments” and “Guggenheim fellowships.”

The Smithsonian writer also mentions that in the late 1940s, NYC’s Grand Central Station displayed gigantic images of AA’s color work (60’ wide x 18’ high) in the main concourse above the commuting throngs. He adds that AA judged these images to be “aesthetically inconsequential but technically remarkable.”

AA also displayed a selection of prints from his transparencies at the Museum of Modern Art in 1950. I presume that means he (and the curators) thought highly of them.

Take a look at this color shot! I like it – titled, “Jeffrey Pine on Sentinel Dome, Yosemite National Park, 1948.” Anyone know if this worshipping tree got any of AA’s b/w attention? Those upper skies (clouds?) look strange but beautiful.

[William McEwen]

Didn't the Alinder bio talk about Ansel only shooting these under contract to Kodak, etc and never wanted them exhibited--and that they were only published by the Ansel Adams Publishing Trust folks after his death (an contrary to his wishes???)?

--Darin

Yes. Ansel's staff had a few of his color shots printed and he looked at them and said stop. No more. They were like fingernails on a chalkboard to him. I've seen the new book; many of the photos are excellent. But the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust has some explaining to do, in my opinion...

[Curt Palm]

An interesting observation that may beg for some sleuthing. The Smithsonian writer mentions only “commercial assignments” and “Guggenheim fellowships.”

The Smithsonian writer also mentions that in the late 1940s, NYC’s Grand Central Station displayed gigantic images of AA’s color work (60’ wide x 18’ high) in the main concourse above the commuting throngs. He adds that AA judged these images to be “aesthetically inconsequential but technically remarkable.”

AA also displayed a selection of prints from his transparencies at the Museum of Modern Art in 1950. I presume that means he (and the curators) thought highly of them.

Take a look at this color shot! I like it – titled, “Jeffrey Pine on Sentinel Dome, Yosemite National Park, 1948.” Anyone know if this worshipping tree got any of AA’s b/w attention? Those upper skies (clouds?) look strange but beautiful.

see this link for at least one example:

http://www.anseladams.com/index.asp?...ROD&ProdID=195



the tree is no longer , it died during a drought some time ago and then fell over in the past couple of years

[William McEwen]

Here it is on the Smithsonian magazine's Web site:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-c...sel-Adams.html