Ansel Adams: Celebration of Genius
From the George Eastman House Collection
And
Lindsay Robertson: Landscapes
City Art Centre, Edinburgh
Saturday
9 February 2008 – Saturday
19 April 2008
Ansel Adams is among the few
photographers in history whose name and work enjoy world-wide recognition. His stunning landscapes and other images of
nature continue to captivate viewers.
Opening on 9th February 2008, Ansel Adams; Celebration of Genius is the most comprehensive
overview of Adams’ career ever exhibited in the UK, with 150 photographs spanning work from 1920s to the 1960s.
Inspired by the 100th
anniversary of Adams birth in 2002, George Eastman House International Museum of
Photography and Film revisited its collection of Adam’s work, creating a new exhibition
that reflects his full career.
While many know his work
through widely published books, postcards, posters and calendars, relatively
few have actually seen his lushly printed original images.
Some will be surprised that Adams did not
confine himself to landscapes, but also made portraits and other subjects into
images nearly as monumental as his beloved mountain ranges.
Featured are many of Adams’
most famous images of the American West – Moonrise,
Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941, Mount
Williamson from Manzanar, California, ca. 1944 and Monolith, Face of Half Dome, 1927.
The exhibition also includes
the equally beautiful (if less well known) Mud Hills, Arizona or Water and Foam, or the
wonderfully abstract Stained Wallpaper
Near Alturas, Calif.
This is an extraordinarily
powerful exhibition of a photographer’s relationship with the environment that
you should definitely see before it returns to the archives.
Lindsay Robertson: is a
successful commercial photographer who during his 35 year career has maintained
his passion for capturing nature. Landscapes gathers the highlights of his
work in Scotland and the USA.
City Art Centre
and Lindsay Robertson gratefully acknowledge the support of Newton Investments.
Admission: Adult £4, Concession £2.50, Family £10, Adult
Season £8, Concession Season £5, Family Season £15. New weekday season £4.
For further information please contact:
John Stout 0131 529 4440 [email protected]
or
Gareth Jones 0131 529 4489 [email protected]
George Eastman House is
the world’s oldest photography museum, founded in 1947 estate of Kodak founder,
George Eastman, the father of popular photography. The museum holds in it’s archives 400,000
photographs, representing 14,000 photographers; 16,000 pieces of camera
technology, including the world’s largest collection of American cameras;
25,000 film titles, making it one of the largest archives in the United States;
more than 3 million motion picture artefacts, including publicity stills,
scripts, scores, and posters; and a comprehensive library of photographic
books, manuscripts and journals. In
modern archives adjacent to the National Historic Landmark home, the museum
offers world-leading graduate and post graduate programs in photograph and film
preservation and conservation.
Ansel Adams:
Celebration of Genius presents work from 1920s to the 1960s, including
an early 1927 portfolio (one of only 50 produced) of Parmelian prints (gelatine
silver emulsion on parchment paper). For
the first time, George Eastman House is pleased to include this portfolio from
its collection for this exhibition.
Lindsay
Robertson’s images have been used in calendars and
international advertising campaigns. It
was through the recognition of Lindsay’s work, while a resident at the
prestigious Hermitage Artists Retreat in Florida, that he was given the
opportunity to secure the Ansel Adams exhibition for Scotland in conjunction
with City Art Centre.
Ansel Adams
Biography, Lindsay Robertson biography.
Ansel
Adams Biography
Ansel Easton Adams was
born on February 20, 1902 in San Francisco. He was a greatly gifted boy who never settled
into the rigid structure of the public school system. In 1915, his father
decided to take him out of school, and private tutors provided his instruction
thereafter. The following year he convinced his parents to take a family
holiday in Yosemite National Park. Armed with his first camera, he began to take
photographs of the park, so beginning an association which saw him return to Yosemite every year for the rest of his life.
That first encounter
with America’s wilderness landscape was deeply significant
for the young Adams. It stimulated a life-long concern for the
environment. Aged 17, he joined the Sierra Club, a group dedicated to
preserving the natural world’s wonders and resources. The Club had been
established in 1892, with the Scottish born environmental pioneer John Muir as
its first president. Adams first job was as custodian of the Sierra Club
Lodge in Yosemite Valley, and he would serve on the Club board of
directors for thirty-seven years. His photographs were used in support of many
environmental issues. He personally lobbied several presidents and Congress on
behalf of wilderness preservation.
An exceptional musician
with ambitions to become a concert pianist, Adams struggled with which career
to follow: music or photography. In 1930 he succumbed to the lure of a life
outdoors in pursuit of photography and gave up serious study of the piano.
Nevertheless, he could not earn a living from art photography alone, and until
the 1970s he accepted commercial photographic assignments to support his
family.
In 1932, along with
Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston and other proponents of ‘pure’ photography Adams founded Group f.64, a short-lived but influential group
who sought to bring artistic legitimacy to their craft. Later in life he
organised the Friends of Photography, a non-profit organisation dedicated to
the study and promotion of art photography.
During his lifetime, Adams would produce eight portfolios and have work in more than
500 exhibitions. A prolific writer, he published thirty-seven books and
hundreds of articles on and about photography. Among his technical achievements
was his development of the revolutionary Zone System, a “pre-exposure” system
still taught in photography classes today.
Ansel Adams received
many national and international awards, honorary degrees, and had a wilderness
area and mountain named after him. He is the only photographer to have received
the highest civilian honour in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded in
1980. He died in 1984.
Lindsay
Robertson
Scottish born Lindsay Robertson, a professional photographer since
1971, finds his inspiration in the Scottish landscape and America’s
wilderness areas. His portfolio of black and white landscapes has
been used in calendars and international advertising and marketing campaigns
establishing his work as talented, captivating and unique.
Lindsay played a pivotal role in bringing the exhibition to the City
Art Centre. When Lindsay was invited to stay at the prestigious
Hermitage Artists Retreat in Florida during 2005, he met the Director of the George Eastman House
International Museum of Photography, Dr. Tony Bannon. On seeing his
photographs, Dr. Bannon personally offered Lindsay Robertson the opportunity to
bring the Ansel Adams Exhibition to the UK and to exhibit alongside the master.
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