Ansel Adams  [1902-1984]

      Half Dome, Merced River, Winter

     Yosemite National Park, California

     Negative  1938, gelatin-silver print  c.1948, signed by the artist on right recto of  mount

7 x 9-1/8-inch print size, #25 special edition stamp on verso of 13-1/2 x 16-1/2 inch mount

       framed to 16 x 20 inches with ultraviolet filtering Plexiglas,  excellent condition

Left image: Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Carmel Highlands, California, negative 1945, gelatin-silver print made by the artist 1974, 19-1/2 x 14-1/2 inch print, excellent condition

Center image: Ansel Adams, White Post and Spandrel, Columbia, California 1953, gelatin-silver print made by the artist 1974, 19-1/4 x 14 inch print, excellent condition

Right image:  Ansel Adams, Graduation Dress, Yosemite Valley, California, 1948, gelatin-silver print made by the artist 1974, excellent condition

    Ansel Adams  [1902-1984]

      Left image:  Bridalveil Fall

     Yosemite National Park, California

     Negative 1927, gelatin-silver print c.1948

8-1/4 x 6-inch print size framed to 20 x 16 inches

unsigned, but with great provenance

excellent condition

    Ansel Adams  [1902-1984]

     Right Image:  Merced River and Half Dome

  Yosemite National Park, California
Negative 1944, gelatin-silver print c.1948
9-1/2 x 7-inch print framed to 20 x 16 inches
excellent condition
 

ANSEL ADAMS: A BIOGRAPHY BY MARY STREET ALINDER

3 AUTOGRAPHED COPIES LEFT!  ALMOST SOLD OUT! 

We have recently discovered a box of Mary's biography of Ansel that has been

OUT-OF-PRINT for a decade.  It is available AUTOGRAPHED for of $75.  Call or email

to reserve a new fresh copy for your collection.  A sampling of reviews:

“ennobling, moving book”          Houston Chronicle

“a loving, minutely researched portrait”          Los Angeles Times

“deeply felt”          Publishers Weekly (starred review)

 “very important, very readable”          The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa)

“superb biography…richly detailed portrait of the complex, legendary figure that was Ansel Adams”                 View Camera

Ansel Adams
Road after Rain
The Sea Ranch, California, 1959

Ansel Adams
Clearing Storm, Sonoma County Hills, California

Paul Strand and Ansel Adams were two of the greatest American photographers of the 20^th century.
We are delighted to be able to offer you this superb selection Strand's photographs as well.

In 1936, Stieglitz anointed Adams as worthy of the world’s attention. It had been twenty years
since he had singled out another young photographer, and that person had been Strand.
New York was Strand’s home where he studied photography with Lewis Hine, the great documentary photographer.
Influenced by the new and radical work of Picasso and Braque, through a cubist eye, he photographed the streets
of New York, breaking up the picture into flat planes. He pioneered a new visual approach.

When Adams met Strand in 1929, he experienced a personal epiphany.
Viewing Strand’s negatives he saw for the first time the full potential of photography and their talks
verified his hope that photography could be a noble and intellectual profession.
Adams wrote, “They were glorious negatives:  full, luminous shadows and strong high values in which subtle passages of tone
were preserved. The compositions were extraordinary:  perfect, uncluttered edges and beautifully distributed shapes
 that he had carefully selected and interpreted as forms – simple, yet of great power”
 My understanding of photography was crystallized that afternoon as I realized the great potential of the medium as an expressive art.”

            Strand's prints sing with precise compositions and luminous tones. Strand’s work is renowned,
showing him to be a pioneer in 20th century avant-garde photography
who was able to demonstrate to the world the effectiveness of art in promoting social change.

In the mid 1970s, in his eighties, he asked master photographic printmaker Richard Benson to make prints for what would be his final portfolio,
On My Doorstep. Supervised by Strand, Benson’s prints are spectacularly beautiful.
Devoted to making the best prints possible, Benson has since been awarded a MacArthur genius award.

Strand’s old friend, Adams, helped to underwrite this project. From an edition of only 50,
the prints that are offered here come from the portfolio that Adams gave to his daughter Anne.
The subjects range from his early expressions in abstraction, cubism, modernism, and the documentary to his later,
melodic images of nature seen in his own yard. Each portfolio was signed by Strand shortly before his death on March 31, 1976.

For more than 60 years, Paul Strand created photographs that continue to increase in value and historical significance.

                      Porch Shadows, Connecticut, 1915                        Jug and Fruit, Connecticut, 1915                        Snow, Backyards, New York, 1914                     

                Rebecca, New York, 1922                                                                                  Akeley Motion Picture Camera, 1923                                      Toadstool and Grasses, Maine, 1928

A handful of Strand quotes:

The artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere,
far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep. –Paul Strand
 

Objectivity is of the very essence of photography, its contribution and at the same time its limitation…
Honesty no less than intensity of vision is the prerequisite of a living expression.
The fullest realization of this is accomplished without tricks of processes or manipulation,
through the use of straight photographic methods.  –Paul Strand

I think of myself as an explorer who has spent his life on a long voyage of discovery.-Paul Strand

All good art is abstract in its structure. - Paul Strand

It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness. - Paul Strand

                             Side Porch, Vermont 1947                                                          Susan Thompson, Maine, 1945                                          Iris Facing the Winter, France, 1973

RUTH BERNHARD

 Ruth Bernhard was born in Berlin on October 14, 1905 into a family immersed in art.  Her father, Lucian Bernhard
was the "father" of the German poster and designer of type forms.  Educated in Germany including two years
at the Berlin Academy of Art, she emigrated to the United States in 1927, landing in New York.
The next year she became a darkroom assistant to Ralph Steiner.  She soon purchased an 8x10 view camera
and began making her own images. By 1934 Bernhard was frequently photographing women in the nude.
It would be this art form for which she would eventually  become best known.
While on vacation in California in 1935, by chance she met the renowned photographer Edward Weston.
She was profoundly affected by his images, leading Bernhard to her development of a strong personal vision.
Ruth eventually settled in San Francisco in 1953.   She has lectured and conducted master classes throughout the United States.
There are several books of her work and her fine pints are widely collected.

  Ruth Bernhard died in San Francisco on December 18, 2006 at age 101.

Triangles

This exquisite image by Ruth Bernhard displays her use of light to harmoniously reveal form.
This particular print was made more than 30 years ago when Ruth was 70 years old and is one of the last photographs she actually printed herself.