Ansel Adams Gallery Yosemite

[rdenney]

Forgive my ignorance, I just discovered Ansel Adams' work. (thanks to a term paper writer)
The first word that comes to my mind is: colorfull. Weird, because they are black/white. I'm browsing thrue the google pictures right now.

Vaughn is right, of course. But it's not easy to find original prints to view unless a museum in your area puts on an exhibit. You can certainly do better than Google, however.

Look for his publications through the New York Graphic Society, and published by Littlem, Brown, and Company. Avoid those books that are derived from the copy negatives in the national archive that were the deliverable on his government-grant work in the national parks during the 40's. Examples of the good ones including the classic Yosemite and the Range of Light, Photographs of the Southwest, and, for photographers, Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs.

He also wrote books describing his technique and use of equipment: The Camera, The Negative, and The Print. These are required reading for anyone wanting to study the basic technique of large-format photography in particular.

The next step up from these are his posters, which give you some sense of scale. Again, get the ones printed under the auspices of the New York Graphic Society and the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.

The next (big) step up are the Special Edition prints made by Alan Ross for the Ansel Adams Gallery. These are silver prints made from his original negatives by one of his former darkroom assistants. These are surprisingly affordable.

Even the books will give you a sense of his body of work, going beyond just an image here and there.

All of these are available online from the Ansel Adams Gallery, but the books are also generally available through Amazon and others.

Rick "who needs more Special Edition prints" Denney

[Steven Scanner]

Vaughn is right, of course. But it's not easy to find original prints to view unless a museum in your area puts on an exhibit. You can certainly do better than Google, however.

#SNIP#
Rick "who needs more Special Edition prints" Denney

I know. Can you tell me where the nearest AA exhibit is? I live in the Netherlands.

Google was the one closest to home. I'm going to go on my quest to find an AA exhebit in Europe, perhaps here in the Netherlands.

[Jim Andrada]

A LONG time ago I was fortunate enough to take Ansel's Yosemite workshop. I remember that at the time he wanted about $300 for a signed custom 11 x 14 print of Hernandez. And I didn't buy any. DUMB! I did get a few of the small prints they were selling at the time for $15 - and they were signed by him although printed by assistants. I still have five of them as well as three 11 x 14 Brett Westons that I bought from him when he came to talk at the workshop.

A couple of years back there was a good show in Santa Fe - on one wall they had four prints of the same negative - the prints were so different you would have thought they were printed by four different people but I believe they had all been printed by Ansel several years apart.

[Vaughn]

I know. Can you tell me where the nearest AA exhibit is? I live in the Netherlands.

Google was the one closest to home. I'm going to go on my quest to find an AA exhebit in Europe, perhaps here in the Netherlands.

Sorry about that. "Steve Scanner" doesn't sound very Dutch, and you do not include your location in your profile, etc.

Good luck in finding some prints to see! The books and posters are a good idea, but still fall far short of the real thing.

You might try emailing the AA Gallery and ask them if they know of any European venues that would have prints by AA. And of course you could always ask them to send you a couple...

This has always been my favorite AA image -- and was the one I saw at the Weston Gallery. It was mounted low, so I just sat down in front of it on the floor and stared at it until I finally felt I should l leave.

Tenaya Creek, Dogwood, Rain
Yosemite National Park, 1948

[Jim Cole]

I had the joy to see several Ansel Adams photographs at an exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts several years back. Clearing Winter Storm knocked me on my arse and definitely brought a tear to my eye.

Edward

I saw a AA 5x7 print of "Clearing Storm" at an exhibition in San Jose a couple of years ago and couldn't stop going back to it. I think I spent almost 30 minutes in front of it. It is the most stunning print I have ever seen.

[John Kasaian]

FWIW Heres a link to a site listing currently scheduled Ansel Adams exhibits:
http://www.anseladams.com/Articles.asp?ID=171

[rolex87]

Usually we have 3-4 originals on display here at the AAG but that can vary depending on inventory. Usually a few more are available to view on the Fine Print Tour which is Saturdays right now. Most hugely in-demand prints are hard to find in stock and by the time we acquire one we may have already sold it.

The Turlock show was great and had a lot of large, rare prints in it. I was able to spend some time in there alone and really enjoyed it.

[Vaughn]

I was just at the AA Gallery last Friday -- a good number of original AA prints up! I am glad my boys had a chance to see them. They were also impressed with the prices! I told them that they should keep all my prints since the value of my prints might go up significantly when I kick off!

Vaughn