Ansel Adams
American photographer and environmentalist (1902–1984)
- Entries
- 7
- On the record
- 0
- Stories
- 1
- Latest entry
- 1985
The record
Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco in 1902 and died in Monterey, California, in 1984. He first visited Yosemite at about 14, joined the Sierra Club in 1919 and saw his first photographs published in its 1922 Bulletin, according to the National Park Service. In 1932 he joined Group f/64, the circle of photographers who favoured sharp focus over the soft-focus Pictorialist style.
Much of his public record sits with federal agencies. In 1941 the National Park Service commissioned him to photograph the national parks for a mural in the Interior Department building; the war ended the project, and the National Archives holds 226 photographs he made for it. In 1975 he co-founded the Center for Creative Photography in Arizona, which still holds his archive.
President Jimmy Carter awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980. After his death the Minarets Wilderness was renamed the Ansel Adams Wilderness, and in 1985 an 11,760-foot peak on the edge of Yosemite was named Mount Ansel Adams. The National Park Service also notes that in 1928 he married Virginia Best, whose family's Best's Studio in Yosemite Valley she later inherited. The dispute over glass negatives sold as his is told in the story on this file.
Roles and honours on the record
- 1919 Member of the Sierra Club, which published his first photographs in its 1922 Bulletin source
- 1941-1942 Photographer commissioned by the National Park Service for a photo mural in the Department of the Interior Building source
- 1975 Co-founder of the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona source
The record, entry by entry
- 1932 Reported Adams joined Group f/64, whose exhibition at San Francisco's de Young Museum is considered a landmark in photography's history, the Center for Creative Photography says. Center for Creative Photography, artist page
- 1941 Official Interior Secretary Harold Ickes invited Adams to photograph the national parks for planned murals. Funding was withdrawn after Pearl Harbor and the murals were never made; he then received a Guggenheim Fellowship to continue the work. Center for Creative Photography, artist page
- 1962 Official The 226 photographs Adams took for the mural project in 1941 and 1942, most signed and captioned by him, were accessioned into the National Archives. National Archives, Ansel Adams photographs page
- 1975 Official Adams co-founded the Center for Creative Photography; his was one of its five inaugural archives and includes more than 2,500 fine prints. Center for Creative Photography, artist page
- 1980 Official President Jimmy Carter awarded Adams the Presidential Medal of Freedom. National Park Service, Yosemite history page
- 1984 Official Adams died in Monterey, California. The Minarets Wilderness was afterwards renamed the Ansel Adams Wilderness in his honour. National Park Service, Yosemite history page
- 1985 Official An 11,760-foot peak on the edge of Yosemite was named Mount Ansel Adams. National Park Service, Yosemite history page