Kerry: Ansel Adams Exhibit

Because I missed the field trip, Greta asked that I see it on my own and share my thoughts on the blog. So here goes . . . First, let me just say that I adore Ansel Adams and can never get too much of his work. I think one reason for that is that many of the landscapes he shoots are familiar to me and are, in fact, my happy places. I also think he does a remarkable job of capturing in small photographs the immensity of his locations and subjects, while also being great at evoking the intimacy of others. And, of course, he was a brilliant printer. About the exhibit itself . . . I really appreciated the interpretive materials included with the photographs; I felt like I learned a lot about Adams's artistic goals and philosophy, which helped me to more fully appreciate his photography.

The accompanying images were, of course, fascinating. My strongest reaction was to Penelope Umbrico's installation, "Range," mostly based on the accompanying statement, which explained that, with the installation, Umbrico was trying to disrupt "assumptions about the originality of landscape photography and the heroic status of photography's 'masters'." I am not clear about what it means to disrupt assumptions about the originality of a field of photography, or whether or not, in her mind, landscape photography is less original than are other fields. I do understand that awarding an individual "master" status may feed too much into the myth of individual exceptionalism, but when I first read it, it felt like she was disrespecting the man whose images were the source of the work she was challenging.

That said, my favorite two pieces were those by Abelardo Morell ("Tent-Camera Image on Ground: View of the Rio Grande Looking Southeast Near Santa Elena Canyon, Texas") and Matthew Brandt ("Rainbow Lake, Wyoming"). Call me simple-minded, but I very much appreciated the ways in which each artist made the direct connection between his photograph and the landscape he was photographing - the resulting images deepened my own sense of connection with and visceral understanding of those landscapes.

All in all, I thought this was a marvelous exhibit. Kudos to the curators!