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All Events | After Dark | Just for Kids | December Nights

Ansel Adams: A Life's Work

May 23, 09 thru Oct 4, 09

With summer blockbuster season upon us, the Museum of Photographic Arts presents a comprehensive survey of 80 works by one of the most recognized photographers in the world, Ansel Adams (1902–1984). The chronological retrospective includes many iconic works that trace Adams’s development as an artist and environmentalist.

Ansel Adams: A Life’s Work spans Adams’s prodigious 60-year career, featuring a large selection of works from his mature period, 1927–1942. It was during this time that Adams developed what became known as the Zone System, in which the photographer’s visualization is realized through exposure techniques and various darkroom processes. Using large-format cameras, Adams was able to produce images of stunning clarity, depth, and resolution, anticipating the quality of today’s high-definition digital imaging.

Also foreseeing concerns of the modern era, Adams—as a member and eventually director of the Sierra Club—became an early advocate of environmental issues, employing his own works to promote the cause of preserving the great American wilderness. His advocacy resulted in the expansion of the National Park system.

Accordingly, the exhibition features a number of photographs that explore landscapes in their pristine state, including examples from Adams’s many trips to Yosemite, such as El Capitan and Monolith, the Face of the Half Dome (1927), as well as his famous Tetons and the Snake River (1942). Alongside these, the exhibition also presents a diverse selection of lesser-known works to help paint a fuller picture of the master photographer’s illustrious career.

Museum of Photographic Arts

	Hours: Tuesday-Sunday. 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Closed Mondays
	Contact: (619) 238-7559 http://www.mopa.org				Directions: Map to Park Location 14