Essay Sample on Ansel Adams Artworks

Where and When the Artist Was Born

Ansel Adams was born on 20th February 1902 in San Francisco, California, and was the only kid for olive Adams and Charles Adams (Cross, 2013). His family had migrated to the New England in the 18th century from Northern Ireland. His grandfather had built and founded a lumber business which was later managed by his father which he later condemned due to the destruction of trees. However, the family migrated near the Seacliff neighborhood and Presidio army base. They preferred the house as it had a nice view of Marin Headlands and Golden Gate. The mother's family hailed from Baltimore, a place where Adams' maternal grandfather had instilled a freight-hauling business entity. However, the business lost a lot of wealth in the process of investing in real estate and mining in Nevada. While young, Adams was considered a hyper-reactive child who was prone to hypochondria and frequent sickness. Although he had few friends, the home's surrounding provided vast childhood facilities due to its nearness to the Golden Gate.

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Map Showing of Location of Birth Place

Below is the map for San, Francisco, Adams' birthplace.

Where and When the Artist Died

Adams died after suffering from a cardiovascular disease in 1984 at the age of eighty- two. He died while in the intensive care unit in the community hospital of the Monterey Peninsula which is based in California. During his death, he had two children, Anne, and Michael, His wife, and five grandchildren.

Artistic Education

How and Where He Learned His Skills

Most of his artistic skills are regarded as self-taught as he liked reading photography magazines and also meetings for a camera club. He also attended art and photography exhibits. When he visited the Yosemite national park, he developed an interest in photography prompting his father to buy him a Kodak Camera which he used to take some photos while in the park (Cross, 2013). In the following year, he returned to the national park with a tripod and better camera. He internalized the darkroom technique when he was working as a part-timer in a business owned by a photograph finisher in San Francisco. During the exploration of the high sierra with Francis Holman, a geologist, and ornithologist, he developed skills and stamina required for high elevation photography and also photography during adverse weather conditions.

While residing in Yosemite, he frequented a studio owned by the best family where he practiced on a square piano. This studio turned to be the exhibition for his gallery after he married Virginia Best who had inherited the studio from her late father. He also joined a club dubbed the Sierra club where he developed his philosophy to reveal the beauty of objects to people which served as a motivation to inspire them in photography. While in the club, he participated in camping and hiking where he was in a position to practice his photography skills.

How It Changed Overtime

In the 1920s, he experimented with the bromoil process, soft-focus, etching and photo secession. However, he did not embark on hand-coloring, an art which was popular. In his arts, he used lenses to get a variety of effects but he abandoned pictorialism and worked on a realistic approach which required darkroom craftsmanship, precise exposure, heightened contrast, and sharp focus.

A sample of their work

Mc Donald Lake in the evening painting found in the Glacier National Park (Adams & Stillman, 2013).

The Tetons and the Snake River (Adams & Stillman, 2013).

Public Appeal

What makes the artist famous artistically or behaviorally?

Adam's desire to protect the environment through his photography made him gain wide acceptance among the photography lovers (Bortman, 2003). For example, he was realistic about the destruction of the habitat and land development.at this time, he used black and white photograms to illustrate the environmental degradation in the West. He also advocated for a balanced growth through minimizing soil erosion, depletion of fish and other wild animals, and also avoiding the destruction of forests. Also, he is known for bringing the scientific principles to the photographic work. For example, he created the zone system, a photographic technique used to manage printing, development and negative exposure (Johnson, 2017).

Adams is also credited for developing the photography department in the Museum of Modern Art located in the New York (Cross, 2013). This was the first art museum in the USA to introduce a department which dealt with photography. He is also famous for developing an anti-pictorialist group dubbed Group f/64 which favored the use of a sharp focus with a small aperture setting. This group also advocated for the use of contact printing and a full tonal range in photography.

A visual sample of Adams' work

The church as depicted in the Adams' book, Taos Pueblo (Adams & Stillman, 2013)

Artistic Mediums

(Ansel Adams Gallery)

El Capitan is a presentation artwork by Ansel Adams that depicts winter, Yosemite National Park, and sunrise in California. The image shown above was printed in 1974 on a Gelatin silver print. The image is of dimensions 34.2 x 26.2 cm and is mounted on a 45.6 x 36.6 cm. It can, therefore, be classified as a photograph on a silver print. The artwork below is also a representation of El Capitan but on a different medium. The artwork was printed by Alan Ross on a studio stamp. In this regard, the images of the artistic works demonstrate different quality.

(Live Auctioneers)

Controversy

Ansel Adams did not show major controversies or notorieties throughout his career. However, the photographer played a controversial development in artistic works. Despite his early successes in the artistic depictions, the artist was dissatisfied with the achievements hence embraced further developments. The opening of his new gallery was controversial as he started engaging in other artistic works which seemed a copycat. For example, he started imitating Stieglitz's work in 1933 which brought controversies that he was duplicating the works of Stieglitz. However, he pushed and even started engaging publication essays and photography magazines. An example of the published photography that brought controversies of imitation is the Farm, Mt. Williamson in California photo shown below.

(Art.com, 2014)

View the Work

Considering the amazing nature of Ansel's work, various exhibitions have been established in to show the great artistic photographs of landscape and nature. Some of the exhibitions that one can view the artistic works include Crooked Tree Arts Center Museum, Arkansas Arts Center Gallery, North Carolina Museum of Art, Fenimore Art Museum, and Turtle Bay Exploration Park among many others. The black and white photograph arts by Ansel have become iconic among Americans and are beloved in American minds and hearts. In this regard, the Ansel Adams Gallery offers to the view his artistic works. The gallery is a masterpiece of Ansel's collection which can be accessed at a fee. Also, the Metropolitan Museum of Art holds various exhibitions for Ansel's artistic works where people can view the portraits.

Into the Sunset exhibition at Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Ansel Adams Gallery).

Influence

As an environmentalist and a conservationist, Ansel legacy is built not only in photography but also in writing and teaching. In this regard, the artist has influenced many generations of artists, environmentalists, and photographers. Ansel brought the landscape photography into a new realm of modernism through fusing the required technical precision in his work while abiding the love of his natural world. In this regard, his work was noted to influence a range of artists who worked in the landscape tradition such as Robert Adams, Eliot Porter, Edward Burtynsky, and Richard Misrach among others. Besides, his artwork has remained in countless books, documentaries, and exhibitions that appear not only in museums but also in living rooms. Due to his great contribution towards American preservation of landscape, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Other modern artists have recognized Ansel Adam as a masterful photographer who has remained a lifelong conservationist and mentor for many. In this regard, his recognition has continued since his death with various recognitions and exhibitions.

American Landscapes (The Ansel Adams Gallery)

Valuation

Ansel Adam's artworks have been considered to be a revolutionary in the art industry across the globe. In this regard, the valuation of his artworks has been massive. One of his artistic works that provided much-needed stability financially is the "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico." This photograph was taken to show the moon rising above the villages, just before the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. The 1941 Gelatin silver artwork was auctioned at $50,000 and sold in April 2014. His iconic developments, as well as the mastery of technique, significantly impacted the massive valuation of the artistic work. Through his unique designs, I have particularly loved how he shows landscape and environment in his artworks. As opposed to some artists who draw artworks in controversial themes like sexuality, Ansel illustrated his works towards conservation of the environment and nature. I am fond of such depictions since I love Mother Nature.

(Heritage Auctions, 2014)

References

Adams, A., & In Stillman, A. G. (2013). Ansel Adams: 400 photographs. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Art.com. Retrieved from: https://www.art.com/products/p14834715913-sa-i6806022/ansel-adams-farm-farm-workers-mt-williamson-in-background.htm

Bortman, M. (2003). Environmental encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale/Thomson-Gale.

Cross, M. (2013). 100 people who changed 20th-century America. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.

Heritage Auctions. ANSEL ADAMS (American, 1902-1984). Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941. Gelatin silver, probably between 1973-1977. Retrieved from: https://fineart.ha.com/itm/photographs/20th-century/ansel-adams-american-1902-1984-moonrise-hernandez-new-mexico-1941gelatin-silver-probably-between-1973-197715/a/5176-74166.s?ic13=SubjectMatter-Artist-Sold-Item-Description-100616

Johnson, C. (2017). The practical zone system for film and digital photography: Classic Tool, Universal applications. New York: Routledge.

Live Auctioneers. Ansel Adams El Capitan. Retrieved from: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/56525959_ansel-adams-el-capitan-3

The Ansel Adams Gallery. Retrieved from: https://shop.anseladams.com/El_Capitan_Winter_p/5010109-u.htm