Born in San Francisco in 1902, pioneering photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams remains one of the most important artists of our time. The groundbreaking exhibition Discovering Ansel Adams, at Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, through Sept. 28, uses photographic prints from his early visits to the American Southwest, his passion for mountaineering and his time spent capturing America’s national parks to trace the photographer’s early career as an American artist.
Organized by the Center for Creative Photography’s Ansel Adams Archive, the exhibition includes over 100 photographs that feature some of his most celebrated works while also revealing often-overlooked keys to understanding the artist. From small prints made during his teenage years to mural-size prints of his most famous nature photographs, the collection spans his entire career. Rare, original archival documents shed light on the experiences that shaped him. These documents include unpublished manuscripts and book drafts, correspondence, snapshots, personal possessions and working materials.
Examples of publications he created explore the ways he made his photographs available to broad audiences throughout his lifetime. Portraits of Adams by other noted photographers, paired with letters and manuscripts in his own words, provide an intimate look at the person behind the camera. Focused sections on his skills as a mountaineer, his experience with the Sierra Club in its formative years, his investment in the art of bookmaking and his commercial endeavors in his beloved Yosemite National Park allow visitors to see Adams as they have never seen him before.
One cannot separate the artist and his art from his passions and pursuits. In 1927, while hiking in Yosemite National Park with friends, Adams took one of his most famous photos: Monolith: The Face of Half Dome. The photograph is indicative of Adams’ signature style: dramatic compositions featuring stark contrast, tonal shapes and deep shadows. His relationship with and documentation of Yosemite is a central feature of Adams’ oeuvre, though he also created iconic images of other national parks, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton.
Monolith was also the first fully visualized photograph of his career; in his mind, he fully formed the image he intended to capture before taking the photograph. Chalk it up to scarcity: When reminiscing about that fateful “click” (he disliked the word “shot”), he revealed that he was down to his last plate and his last filter, so he composed the image fully in his mind before capturing the ephemeral moment.
When Ansel Adams was coming of age, photography was not yet considered a fine art medium. For several years, Adams considered becoming a concert pianist. In a 1979 interview on CBS Sunday Morning with Ed Bradley, he recounted an experience from when he was trying to decide whether to pursue piano or photography. Someone told him, “Don’t give up music — the camera cannot express the human soul.” Adams replied, “Well, the camera might not, but maybe the photographer could try.”
Ansel Adams’ legacy as a photographer and environmentalist is matched only by his legacy as an advocate for the art form. He spent his life promoting photography as a fine art and played a key role in the establishment of the first museum department of photography at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. He was among the founders of the Center for Creative Photography, a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over 60 of the most famous American photographers. The center houses all of Adams’ negatives known to exist at the time of his death.
Discovering Ansel Adams is organized by the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, with the support of The Museum Box, and is curated by Ansel Adams scholar and Center for Creative Photography Chief Curator Dr. Rebecca Senf.
The exhibition runs through Sept. 28 at Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
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“Discovering Ansel Adams”
Tuesdays-Sundays. Continues through Sept. 28
Location: Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, Oklahoma City
This article appears in deadCenter Film Festival 2025.