[LargeFormat] Ansel Adams (was 250mm Wide Field Ektar)

[Karl Wolz]

H'lo Clive,

I saw the Ansel Adams exhibition at SFMOMA and found it quite interesting.
It made him more approachable, since it showed a lot of his work that was
not executed nearly as well as the stuff you always see in calendars, etc.

There have been a few times I've felt the need to comment on one issue or
another, but have been unable to, since I cannot seem to access the
discussion groups.  Am I no longer welcome, or perhaps my password has been
changed, or  .  .  ?

Good luck for the weekend.

More on the AA show later,

Karl Wolz


----- Original Message -----
From: "Clive Warren" <cocam@blueyonder.co.uk>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2002 3:09 AM
Subject: [LargeFormat] Ansel Adams (was 250mm Wide Field Ektar)


> At 10:09 pm -0700 4/5/02, Charles Thorsten wrote:
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Clive Warren"
> >
> >>  Charlie,
> >>
> >>  Thanks for that - a video just arrived in the post from a kind person
> >>  who taped the recent Ansel Adams documentary shown in the US on PBS.
> >>  I was going to hit the hay, but may well stay up for a bit and watch
> >>  it - maybe the lens will be shown in action....
> >>
> >
> >If you watch his original documentary from 1980, the opening
> >scene shows him using it on an 8x10 from Washburn Point in
> >Yosemite.  There's even a close-up of the shutter being snapped.
> >I missed the new PBS documentary a couple weeks ago and
> >I've been dying to see it!  I didn't think to record it.  I'm hoping
> >they'll show it again or someone will let me borrow their copy.
> >
> >Good luck,
> >Charlie
>
> Charlie,
>
> I watched the first half hour of the PBS documentary last night and
> it is excellent so far. It is a great insight into the man and how
> his first visit to Yosemite provided the driving force in his life to
> capture his vision of the place and other wilderness areas, initially
> with a Box Brownie given to him by his doting father. There are many
> shots showing Adams using what looks like an early Speed Graphic,
> interestingly always with the sports finder erected - this must have
> been how he did his initial framing!
>
> The documentary is backed by some great research through letters to
> the woman he was later to marry. According to John Szarkowski who is
> curator of the current Centennial Exhibition, Adams was known as a
> man who did not wax lyrically about his photographs - leaving it to
> others to interpret his work. This is surprising in some ways given
> the wonderful description of Yosemite in a letter to his then
> girlfriend that really captured the beauty, splendour and awesome
> majesty of the place.
>
> Weston was mentioned as was the early pictorialist approach of both
> Edward and Ansel who had been influenced by Stieglitz. In the PBS
> documentary there was a wonderful section where Ansel visited New
> York to show Stieglitz his portfolio. Apparently Stieglitz looked
> through the work, twice, without making a comment. Finally he said
> that they were the best prints he had ever seen. Adams finally had
> his affirmation that he was a really great photographer in a time
> when his sharply focused approach with clarity of detail went totally
> against the contemporary perceived artistic value of photographs.
>
> Watching the documentary with some excellent time lapse photography
> of Yosemite in addition to Ansel's work, I found myself wishing to be
> back in the magnificent scenery of the South West USA - the idea of
> living in that part of the world has grown very strong again. Maybe
> some day......
>
> I would dearly like to also get hold of a copy of the 1980 Adams
> documentary - perhaps someone on the list has a copy?
>
> I guess most on the list know about the touring Adams Centennial
> Exhibition that has been organised by the San Francisco Museum of
> Modern Art. Well it comes over to the UK to the Hayward Gallery later
> this year. I'll be there, and maybe this is a good opportunity for
> all the UK members of f32 and the list to get together!
>
>
> Ansel Adams at 100
> Dates : 11 Jul 2002 - 22 Sep 2002
> Venue : Hayward Gallery
> Address : Belvedere Road London SE1 8XZ
> Public Transport : Tube/Rail: Waterloo; Tube: Embankment.
> Telephone : (020) 7960 4203
> Web : www.haywardgallery.org.uk
> Prices: Prices to be announced.
> Opening Times : Monday Open, 1000-1800.
> Box Office : Hayward Gallery
> Belvedere Road
> London
> SE1 8XZ
> Tel : (020) 7960 4203
> Credit Card booking available contact
> (020) 7960 4242
>
> All of the other dates and locations for the travelling Centennial
> Exhibition exhibition are listed at:
>
> http://www.anseladams.com/taag/webpage.cfm?WebPage_ID=234&DID=8
>
> The exhibition is currently at the Art institute of Chicago until
> June 2, 2002. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the PBS
> documentary this evening.
>
> Cheers,
>         Clive
>
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