Press RoomPhoenix Art Museum presents exhibition of photographic prints by Ansel Adams
Phoenix Art Museum presents exhibition of photographic prints by Ansel Adams
Nov, 01, 2019
Exhibitions and Special InstallationsPhotography
Phoenix Art Museum presents exhibition of photographic prints by Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams: Performing the Print illustrates how the 20th-century’s foremost American photographer often created multiple prints from a single negative in pursuit of the fullest expression of the view as he imagined it
PHOENIX
(November 1, 2019) –From January 11 through June 7, 2020, Phoenix
Art Museum will present Ansel
Adams: Performing the Print, an
exhibition of works by one of the 20th century’s foremost photographers, in the Doris and John Norton Family Photography Gallery. Featuring
60 photographs drawn from the Ansel Adams Archive at the Center for Creative
Photography (CCP) at the University of Arizona, Performing the Print spans six decades and presents sets of prints
grouped in twos and threes to demonstrate how Adams often created multiple
prints of varying interpretations from his own negatives. The exhibition is the
most recent collaboration between Phoenix Art Museum and CCP, which was
co-founded in 1975 by Adams and then-University
of Arizona president John Schaefer.
“We are pleased to present Ansel Adams: Performing the Print to our audiences in Arizona,”
said Gilbert Vicario, the Museum’s Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs and
the Selig Family Chief Curator. “The exhibition offers an intimate view into
Adams’ artistic process that will intrigue both longtime admirers of his work
as well as those who will experience his photographs for the first time in our
galleries.”
An acclaimed photographer best known for his black-and-white
images of the American West, Adams famously said that the photographic negative
is like a composer’s score while the print is the performance. In Performing
the Print, the artist’s choices about cropping, brightness, and overall
contrast are illuminated, as multiple prints created using the same negative
are showcased side by side, with several accompanied by quotations from the
artist’s writings sourced from various publications to provide context. For
example, a portrait of Nobutaro Harry Sumida, a naval veteran of the
Spanish-American war who was the oldest resident at the Manzanar War Relocation
Center in the early 1940s, is accompanied by the artist’s notes on the Japanese-American
internment camp. The pairing documents an important aspect of American history
while demonstrating the link between
Adams’ printed works and written word.
The exhibition also features portraits of
painter Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer Alfred Stieglitz, well-known images
of national parks such as Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Park, and
photographs from Hawaii, Cape Cod, and Alaska. In addition, viewers are invited
to examine Adams’ role as an educator, while considering how his approach
evolved as his own perspective, available materials, and the field of
photography transformed during his lifetime.
“The photographs in Performing the Print highlight Adams’ sensitivity as a photographic printer,” said Rebecca A. Senf, PhD, chief curator at the Center for Creative
Photography, who formerly served as the Museum’s Norton Family Curator of
Photography, and author of a forthcoming book on the artist entitled Making a Photographer: The Early Work of
Ansel Adams. “Viewers are encourarged to discover how each hand-made print
portrays a landscape expressed through the lens of Adams’ imagination.”
Over the past 13 years,
the Museum and CCP have organized nearly 40 exhibitions, bringing outstanding
works of 20th century and contemporary photography to wider
audiences in Arizona. Ansel Adams:
Peforming the Print is the first exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum solely
devoted to the renowned American photographer since The Process and the Page in 2014.
About the Exhibition
Ansel Adams: Performing the Print will be on view from January 11 through June 7, 2020 in the Doris and John Norton Gallery for the Center for Creative Photography. The exhibition is organized by the Center for Creative Photography and Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members. For more details about the exhibition, please visit www.phxart.org/anseladams.
Admission
is free for Museum Members; veterans and active-duty military and their families;
Maricopa Community College students, staff, and faculty (with ID); and youth 5
and younger. Entrance to the exhibition is included in general admission for
the general public. During voluntary-donation times, the exhibition is offered
to the general public with pay-what-you-wish admission. Voluntary-donation
times include Wednesdays from 3 – 9 pm, the first Fridays of every month from 6
– 10 pm, and the second Sunday of each month from noon – 5 pm through December
2019. For a full breakdown of general admission prices and hours, please see bit.ly/VisitPhxArt.
To
request interviews and high-resolution photography, contact the Marketing and
Communications Office of Phoenix Art Museum at
Join Rebecca A. Senf, PhD, chief curator of CCP, as she discusses how Ansel Adams’ early photographs are crucial to understanding his artistic development. Books will be available for purchase in The Museum Store.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art
Museum has provided millions of guests with access to world-class art and
experiences in an effort to ignite imaginations, create meaningful connections,
and serve as a brave space for all people who wish to experience the
transformative power of art. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, the Museum
is a vibrant destination for the visual arts and the largest art museum in the
southwestern United States. Each year, more than 350,000 guests engage with critically
acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of
more than 19,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin
American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. The Museum also
presents a comprehensive film program, live performances, and educational
programs designed for visitors of all ages, along with vibrant photography
exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the
Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. To learn more about
Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.
About
the Center for Creative Photography
The Center for Creative Photography
is recognized as one of the world’s finest academic art
museums and study centers for the history of photography. The Center opened in
1975, following a meeting between then University President Dr. John Schaefer
and world-renowned photographer Ansel Adams. Beginning with the archives of
five living master photographers—Ansel Adams, Wynn Bullock, Harry Callahan,
Aaron Siskind, and Frederick Sommer—the collection has grown to include 270
archival collections. Among these are some of the most recognizable names in
20th century North American photography: Lola Álvarez Bravo, W. Eugene Smith,
Edward Weston, and Garry Winogrand. Altogether there are over eight million
archival objects in the Center’s collection including negatives, work prints,
contact sheets, albums, scrapbooks, correspondence, writings, audiovisual
materials and memorabilia. In addition to whole archival collections the Center
also actively acquires individual photographs by modern and contemporary
photographers. There are currently more than 110,000 works by over 2,200
photographers. A library of books, journals, and exhibition and auction catalogs
including many rare publications plus an extensive oral history collection
complements the archival and fine print collections. The combined art,
archival, and research collections at the Center provide an unparalleled
resource for research, exhibitions, loans, and traveling exhibitions. The
Center has a full schedule of exhibitions, programs, and events designed to
deepen an understanding of how the medium impacts society. For more details, as
well as information on Center membership and ways to get involved visit ccp.arizona.edu/home.
