RSSMaryhill exhibit celebrates Ansel Adams
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By KIM NOWACKI
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Through his striking black and white photographs, Ansel Adams established himself as the great 20th century documenter of the American landscape.
But Adams wasn't only an acclaimed artist, he was also wildly popular and commercially successful.
"People were able to see the beauty he saw. He was able to convey what captured his attention" says Lee Musgrave, curator of exhibits at the Maryhill Museum of Art, which this weekend will open an exhibit of Adams' photographs.
"People felt personally connected to his work. Very few artists can do that," adds Musgrave.
Those who can, he says, become household names.
On Saturday, Maryhill will display
47 Adams photographs in a show titled "Ansel Adams: Masterworks."
Curated by Robyn G. Peterson, the executive director of the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Mont., the show is culled from a larger group called "The Museum Set," which Adams personally selected before his death in 1984. They are the works Adams chose as a succinct representation of his life's work, notes Musgrave.
"That's a very rare treat," he adds.
The images include Adams' intensely personal view of the natural wonders in Arizona, Nevada and his native California.
"Yosemite (National Park) is the one people will know the most," says Maryhill Executive Director Colleen Schafroth, referring to Adams' favorite photographic subject.
During Saturday's opening, Peterson, the "Masterworks" curator, will talk more about Adams' life and work at 3 p.m., followed by a reception. The show runs through Sept. 13.
Musgrave chose to bring in "Masterworks" to contrast with this year's special exhibition season opener, "Hudson River School Sojourn," an exhibit of 34 lush paintings by artists working from 1825 to 1915, primarily in New York state's Hudson River Valley. The Hudson River School firmly established the first American landscape painting tradition.
However, says Musgrave, the two shows are also similar in that the Hudson River artists, and Adams, were concerned with conservation.
Synonymous with the Sierra Club, Adams' photographs offered pristine views of areas that he felt needed to be protected.
"He captured a place that exists and doesn't exist," says Schafroth. "He hit a nerve."
And to see these images printed from Adams' negatives -- "in the flesh," says Schafroth -- and according to the size he wanted them to be, is a much more moving experience than just looking at a mass-produced Ansel Adams poster or note card.
"The people that come (to the show) will walk away with that," says Schafroth.
If you go
WHAT: "Ansel Adams: Masterworks," featuring 47 photographs from a larger group called "The Museum Set," which Adams personally selected to serve as a succinct representation of his life's work.
WHERE: Maryhill Museum of Art, off Washington Scenic Route 14 just west of U.S. Highway 97 south of Goldendale.
WHEN: Opens Saturday and runs through Sept. 13. Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
HOW MUCH: Museum admission costs $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and $2 for ages 6-16.
INFO: Call 509-773-3733 or visit www.maryhillmuseum.org.
Related programs
* 1-4 p.m. Saturday -- Family Fun Day. Create a photomontage with your own photographs or those supplied by the museum. Family Fun activities and admission to the museum are free for children under 17 with one adult admission.
* 3 p.m. Saturday -- "Ansel Adams' Life and Work," a lecture by Robyn G. Peterson, curator of "Ansel Adams: Masterworks" and the executive director of the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Mont.
* 4-5 p.m. Saturday -- Opening reception for "Ansel Adams: Masterworks."
* Monday to July 24 -- Teaching Through Art: A Sense of Place (Summer Art Institute). Using Adams' photographs as a jumping off point, teachers will create art and learn new strategies for bringing art into the classroom. Teachers can earn credit or clock hours through the Graduate School of Education/Continuing Education at Portland State University, or through Washington ESD 105.
* 2-4 p.m. Thursday -- "A Sense of Place: The Pacific Northwest." Historian William G. Robbins moderates a panel of noted Northwest writers: poet Elizabeth Woody (Wasco/Navajo), an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Oregon; author Molly Gloss, a fourth-generation Oregonian; and author and Oregon native Robin Cody.
* 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Aug. 15 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 16 -- The Maryhill Arts Festival. Features works by more than 50 artists, live music and hands-on family art activities. There will also be an Outdoor Photography Exhibit featuring work by members of the Portland Photographic Society and the Cascade Stereoscopic Club. Also, the Goldendale Astronomy Club will host solar viewing demonstrations.
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