Ansel Adams

ANSEL ADAMS

U.S.A. Born San Francisco, 1902, of New England descent. Musical gifts apparent when he was twelve. Took first photographs in Yosemite Valley at fourteen. At eighteen began education as a musician — concert pianist. At twenty-five, success of first portfolio, Parmellian Prints of the High Sierras, persuaded him to concentrate on photography as his profession. A founder of Group f/64, 1932. First book on technique, Making a Photograph, 1935. One-man exhibition given by Alfred Stieglitz at An American Place, 1936. First book of magnificent reproductions, Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail, 1938. Helped Beaumont Newhall found at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the first department of photography as a fine art. Photomuralist to the Department of the Interior, 1941. Plea for loyal Japanese-Americans, published as Born Free and Equal, and exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art as Manzanar, 1944. Founded first department of photography as art and profession at California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, 1946. Received Guggenheim Fellowship to photograph National Parks and Monuments, 1947. Began issuing portfolios of fine original prints, “bound portfolios” of fine reproductions, and regional books with texts by John Muir and Mary Austin, 1948-1950. Basic Books, series on photographic technique, began appearing 1948, currently being revised for new edition. Consultant to Polaroid Corporation, 1950 to date. Collaboration with Nancy Newhall on books and exhibitions, such as This is the American Earth, 1952 to date. Conducts Photography Workshops in Yosemite in June every year. Moved to Carmel, 1962. Major retrospective exhibition —largest ever given a photographer — opened at M. H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, 1963; toured by Smithsonian, now by Eastman House. Received Doctor of Fine Arts degree, 1962, from University of California; Doctor of Humanities from Occidental College, 1967. Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Continuously reelected a director of the Sierra Club since 1932. A founder and the first president of The Friends of Photography, 1967. Appointed member of U.S. Scenic Highway Commission. Received Conservation Award from Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, 1968.