Ecology through a camera lens: Ansel Adams at the Sangre
The iconic photography of Ansel Adams: Classic Images goes on display this summer.
Known for his black and white images of the landscape of western territories, Ansel Adam’s photography collection is familiar territory for Colorado’s Southeastern portion of the state, sometimes being dubbed by the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce as the ‘Gateway to the Southwest.’
The Sangre de Cristo Arts Center will host the artist’s exhibit titled “Ansel Adams: Classic Images” beginning June 4. It will be the first time since 1988, four years after his death, that the iconic photographer’s work has been displayed in Pueblo.
A few specific images in the collection will stand out to Southern Coloradoans such as ‘Winnowing Grain,’ ‘Taos Pueblo,’ ‘Saint Francis Church,’ ‘Ranchos de Taos;’ ‘Ghost Ranch Hills,’ ‘Aspens,’ ‘Spanish American Woman,’ ‘near Chimayo’ and ‘Pool, Acoma Pueblo.’
“These are subjects that surround us on a daily basis. We are familiar with the beauty of these structures, landscapes and people and it is a treat to see how Ansel Adams was masterfully able to capture them,” said Alyssa Parga, Marketing Manager of the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center.
Due to the regional specificity of some of the photographs in the collection, the arts center was presented with $38,000 in grants received from the National Endowment of the Arts and a Colorado tourism grant.
The collection is owned by Ansel Adams’ daughter, Anne, whom he gave the prints specifically and are widely considered some of his best.
“The public will learn about how America’s most well-known photographer, was instrumental in the recognition of fine art photography and how he pioneered a technical process of manipulating prints to convey his emotional response to the scene,” Parga said.
Ansel Adams was often described as an environmentalist. The May 7 edition of “Newsweek” after his death in 1984 stated that “He was a man for whom nature stood still, a man who mastered the ‘straight’ skills of photographic realism and faithfully documented the real world …”
The collection of his photographs that will be featured at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center explore a common theme: “Discovery that the natural world is infinitely varied in aspect,” Parga explained.
Additionally, the variety of landscapes coupled with the explanatory wall texts will provide museum guests with the opportunity to explore and study the importance of environmental aspects like conservation and ecology.
Children will also have the opportunity to explore similar environmental topics in the cohort exhibit to the Ansel Adams’one. It is titled “World of Wonder: 100 Years of Imagination, Conservation, and Innovation” and will be set up in the Buell Children’s Museum.
His visionary expertise and technical approach to his camerawork of the West influenced aspects of the overall practice and profession of photography as a whole.
Adams developed a photography technique called the zone system that allowed photographers to evaluate the contrast range aspects of the subject they are attempting to photograph and measure the specified regions of tone in the finished product.
“There is no one quite like Ansel Adams, his legacy has left the fine art photographers of today with tools to be successful,” Parga said.
Complementing the Ansel Adams’ collection at the arts center will be “America’s Parks: A Centennial Celebration” and “The Landscape of Pueblo.”
The first will be “… an exhibition of nationwide photographers juried by John Fielder, highlighting America’s National Parks during the year of their one hundredth anniversary…,” Parga said.
The localized collection that will also compliment Adams’ work “… explores photos from the Steelworks Center of the West and compares photographs of Pueblo taken at the same time of Ansel Adam’s photographs,” she explained.
