A Brief History
Ansel Adams was one of the 20th centuries most famous nature photographers. In 1984 ,
when he died at the age of 82, he left behind some of the most exquisite photographs of the early
Yosemite National Park. He was born in San Francisco, California in 1902. Ansel discovered the
piano at a young age. He continued to study the piano through his young adulthood,but the piano
did not become the source of his passion. Photography did. He took his first picture in 1912,and in
1930, after he met Paul Strand an American abstract close up photographer, he decided to make
photography his line of work. Adams founded many photographic groups and received many
awards for his work. He was involved in the founding of the department of photography at the
Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1942, and the department of photography at the
California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco in 1964. He was the director of the Sierra Club
from 1934 to 1971. In 1980 he received the President's Metal of Freedom, the nation's highest
civilian honor. In 1981 Adams received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Harvard
University. In 1982 on his 80th birthday Ansel Adams received the Decoration of Commander of
the Order of the Arts and Letters, the highest cultural award by the French to a foreigner.
Adams also received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Mills College. On April 22
1984, Adams died of heart failure, aggravated by cancer. After his death, the Ansel Adams
Wilderness area of more than 100,000 acres was created between Yosemite National Park and the
John Muir Wilderness area. On the one year anniversary of his death, Mt. Ansel Adams, an
11,760 foot peak, at the edge of Yosemite National Park, was officially named. One of the
geographic factors that influenced his works, was Yosemite National Park. In 1890, the 1,500
square mile Yosemite National Park was created.
In 1892, the Sierra Club was established with John Muir as it's first president. Both the
Sierra Club and Yosemite were a huge part of Ansel's adult life. In 1916, the Adams family
Olive, Charles, and Ansel, took a family vacation to Yosemite National Park. Adams took his
first of more than a thousand pictures with a Box Brownie that his parents gave him. Since his
first trip in 1916 he returned every year until close to the time of his death.
Ansel Adams: Reflection of the Times
The Harlem Renaissance was a time of discovery. Many new inventions were becoming available
to the ever-growing middle class. Music and art were undergoing drastic changes. Conservation of
the natural beauty of the west became a political issue, mainly because of Theodore Roosevelt, and
National Parks were becoming more and more frequent. Organizations such as the National
Geographic Society and the Sierra Club were becoming ever more popular.
Ansel Adams was inspired by this era of conservation, and by 1930, he had decided nature
photography was going to become his life's work. This is how his work was reflective of the
times.
His photography was different from most other photographers of the 20th century. His black and
white pictures captured the beauty, and almost mystical quality of his subject. He realized that
while the camera could not express the soul, a photographer could. Adams was very proud to have
been able to preserve the natural beauty of Yosemite before it was trampled by tourists. Even
though the color camera became the preferred medium, Adams continued to use monochrome.
Ansel used light to expose the beauty and mystery of a place, without color. Ansel Adams used his
medium to combine art and naturalism to produce works that contributed to the Harlem
Renaissance.