Ansel Adams at 100

November 13, 2001 11:09 AM

Ansel Adams at 100 -- If you liked my Coltrane link of a few weeks ago, and you are into visual stuff as well, this San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exhibit site is a real gem. I particularly like the "where to stand, what to keep" "essay" that you get when you click on the "Frozen Lake and Cliffs" image.
posted by fpatrick (7 comments total)

Quicktime 4 required
posted by starvingartist at 11:16 AM on November 13, 2001

fpatrick, I posted this SF Gate story about the exhibit in early August, but thanks for the link to the electronic exhibit. It's a good use of today's medium to show how he excelled in the medium of his day.
posted by msacheson at 11:21 AM on November 13, 2001

Sorry, starvingartist, but as a Mac user, I forget that good technology is not universal ;-). I think, but am not sure, that most of the site is viewable with Flash and QT is only needed for the videos.

msacheson -- I saw your link back in August when I did my search, but felt if anyone was to see it, August was a bit far back to go. I almost appended it to this 11/11 link, but I suspect that it would have been overlooked there. I missed this previous link on art and technique/technology, and was glad to come across it in my search.
posted by fpatrick at 11:30 AM on November 13, 2001

I was at SFMOMA in August and the number of people at the exhibit was amazing. It was hard getting around in the cramped spaces, but it was worth it so see such beautiful photography. And as a bonus, I know what to get my mom for Christmas.
posted by TacoConsumer at 11:37 AM on November 13, 2001

I saw the exhibit a couple weeks ago and it's worth the trip. Some say that Adams is overrated (who says photography is all about shooting and has nothing to do with dark room work?), but I enjoyed the display quite a bit; the difference between Adams' work and the that of some similar photographers displayed for comparison was marked.

Folks in other locales might want to go check it out when it comes to their area:

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: August 4, 2001 - January 13, 2002
Art Institute of Chicago: February 20 - June 2, 2002
Hayward Gallery, London: July 4 - September 22, 2002
Kunstbibliothek, Berlin: October 10, 2002 - January 5, 2003
L.A. County Museum of Art: February 2 - April 27, 2003
Museum of Modern Art, New York: July 9 - November 4, 2003
(source)
posted by jkottke at 3:50 PM on November 13, 2001

Wow. Thanks for that link. I have to say that the music struck me as being particularly appropriate and beautiful. A great use of Flash!
posted by UrbanFigaro at 3:58 PM on November 13, 2001

Damnit, I may have posted this Ansel Adams story before, but that's not going to stop me. Mr. Peabody, set the Wayback Machine to 1973... a geeky 9th grader and his geeky friend attend a lecture by Ansel Adams at the local college. We sit in the front row, enthralled by the pictures and the commentary as he speaks about his art and his experiences. We hang around afterwards, and he sits down and talks to us for a while about photography. He signs a little scrap of paper. He encourages us. We walk away as photographers. Very cool.
posted by apollo at 10:36 PM on November 13, 2001