Synopses & Reviews
In commemoration of the one-hundredth anniversary of his birth, Ansel Adams at 100 presents an intriguing new look at this distinguished photographer's work. The legendary curator John Szarkowski, director emeritus of the Department of Photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art, has painstakingly selected what he considers Adams' finest work and has attempted to find the single best photographic print of each. Szarkowski writes that "Ansel Adams at 100 is the product of a thorough review of work that Adams, at various times in his career, considered important. It includes many photographs that will be unfamiliar to lovers of Adams' work, and a substantial number that will be new to Adams scholars. The book is an attempt to identify that work on which Adams' claim as an important modern artist must rest." Ansel Adams at 100-the highly acclaimed international exhibition and the book, with Szarkowski's incisive critical essay-is the first serious effort since Adams' death in 1984 to reevaluate his achievement as an artist. The exhibition prints, drawn from important public and private collections, have been meticulously reproduced in tritone to create the splendid plates in this edition, faithfully rendering the nuances of the original prints. Ansel Adams at 100 is destined to be the definitive book on this great American artist. John Szarkowski is director emeritus of the Department of Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. He is the author of such classic works as Looking at Photographs, The Photographer's Eye, Photography Until Now, and Atget, as well as several books of his own photographs, including the recently reissued The Idea of Louis Sullivan.
Review
"A book that's also art."--The New York Times, Publishers Weekly
Review
"Long after the museum tour of Ansel Adams at 100 ends, this book will endure as a vital document of his vast contribution to the art of landscape."--San Diego Union Tribune
Review
"[Szarkowski's] incisive biographical essay and reproductions worthy of Adams' exacting standards make [the book] a fitting monument to an American visionary."--Artnews
Review
"[Adams] probably did as much as any artist of the 20th century to shape the American psyche, to change our perception of the world...These pictures strive for classical purity, order, and finality."
--Washington Post
Synopsis
Ansel Adams at 100 presents an intriguing new look at this distinguished photographer's work. The legendary curator John Szarkowski, director emeritus of the Department of Photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art, has painstakingly selected what he considers Adams' finest work and has attempted to find the single best photographic print of each.
Szarkowski writes that Ansel Adams at 100 is the product of a thorough review of work that Adams, at various times in his career, considered important. It includes many photographs that will be unfamiliar to lovers of Adams' work, and a substantial number that will be new to Adams scholars. The book is an attempt to identify that work on which Adams' claim as an important modern artist must rest. Ansel Adams at 100-the highly acclaimed international exhibition and the book, with Szarkowski's incisive critical essay-is the first serious effort since Adams' death in 1984 to reevaluate his achievement as an artist.
The exhibition prints, drawn from important public and private collections, have been meticulously reproduced in tritone to create the splendid plates in this edition, faithfully rendering the nuances of the original prints. Ansel Adams at 100 is the definitive book on this great American artist. John Szarkowski is director emeritus of the Department of Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. He is the author of such classic works as Looking at Photographs, The Photographer's Eye, Photography Until Now, and Atget, as well as several books of his own photographs, including the recently reissued The Idea of Louis Sullivan.
Synopsis
The defining book on the master photographer, ANSEL ADAMS AT 100 is one of the most beautiful books ever created. Its author, John Szarkowski has painstakingly selected what he considers Adams’ greatest work—114 images—and has tracked down the single best photographic print of each. He presents an unexpected and sometimes unfamiliar body of work. His brilliant and incisive essay speaks to his judgment of the importance of Ansel Adams as a modern artist.
Published in August 2001, ANSEL ADAMS AT 100 is a superlative piece of bookmaking. Under the direction of Richard Benson, Dean of the Yale School of Art and a renowned reproduction expert, the exhibition prints have been scanned in tritone, faithfully reproducing the nuances of the original prints; the book was impeccably printed at Meridian Printing on specially-made French paper and bound in linen cloth, with a matching slipcase. This magnificent centennial volume truly defines the term “collector’s edition.”
About the Author
In a career that spanned more than five decades, Ansel Adams was at once America's foremost landscape photographer and one of its most ardent environmentalists.
John Szarkowski, is Director Emeritus of the Department of Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. His book of photographs of the buildings of Louis Sullivan was recently reissued by Bulfinch Press. Szarkowski lives in East Chatham, NY, and New York City.