Ansel Adams at 100 (SFMOMA)  

Ansel Adams' photography will always hold a permanent place in poster form above the beds of art and literature students.  In fact, his reputation for mastering black and white photography is still gaining momentum.

In celebration of the 100 anniversary of his birth, an exhibit is touring the country with a comprehensive collection of his work.  I viewed it at the SFMOMA (pronounced as it is spelled), his archivists have filled five small galleries with his work.  While I felt his work was well represented, with a beginning, middle and end, I was notmore

February 21–June 2, 2002
at the Art Institute of Chicago

overwhelmed by the volume of photos.

The exhibit opens with a selection of art at the time Adams was beginning to take a few snapshots.  This is to set the context of what we are about to see, and provided little to the photography.  

Once knee deep in Adams' photography, the interesting point is that later in life, he revisited many of his earlier negatives and reprinted them altering the lighting.  This is seen dramatically in Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake, Alaska, but is much more effective in Aspens, Northern New Mexico.  Transforming a simple stand of trees with gray tones to an image of a dank, dark negative space interrupted by bold silvery white trees shows how the maturing Adams wanted to improve his early work.

The last gallery in the exhibit featured works by photographers who were inspired by Ansel Adams.  Their muse practically shows his face in their photographs, but it was refreshing to see some new subject matter.  Joseph Bartscherer ventured into photographing live fruit in an untitled series from Pioneer Mattawa.  I was impressed with this series.

I suspect the reason for wanting to see more photos in this exhibit is in the subject matter.  Ansel Adams took thousands of his photographs while on Sierra Club outings in Northern California.  His subjects did not pose or ask for a latte or need tranquilizers to sit while he measured lighting and adjusted f stops.  He took pictures of rocks and trees, many of which were dead.  How many images of a rock do you need to see?

Don't misunderstand my tone.  I am writing a favorable review, but while I was browsing his work, I couldn't help but think that his subject matter is powerful regardless of how it is photographed.  The Sierra Nevada mountain range is filled with devastatingly beautiful peaks, valleys and lakes.  This idea is reinforced in the last gallery by Lee Friedlander with his 1999 work, Tetons.  Similar to Adams in dramatic rock faces and clouds, the multitude of surfaces, depth and shadows is beautifully portrayed in black and white.

Ansel Adams is connected to his nature just like Van Gogh is connected to his ear.  Well, that metaphor comes out wrong.  Ansel Adams' biography will always include his connection to nature, just as Van Gogh's biography will always include the story of his ear.  Hewlett Packard focused on this nature in its electronic learning center.  With 8 computers running a flash presentation on a selection of Adams' photographs, a interested party could probe behind the scenes if they are dedicated enough to wait for one of the few computers to free up.  Sure enough, the photographs featured did not include the one street scene of the collection (Broad Street, New York City), but did include video clips of Adams and his admirers.

Yosemite National Park is not bad place to find amazing views, and he found many.  In a 1957 interview, Adams beams with pride as he expresses his love for the natural area he first visited in 1916.  He was not afraid of showing his love for nature and photography either.  He states, "elemental nature must be approached with a reverential lens."  I believe he's on to something there.  To have a lens, or an eye, revere nature, conjures up the image of that lens drooling over its subject matter.  His work shows that drool.