Customer Reviews

Ansel Adams at 100

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is the official catalog for the traveling show in honor of Ansel Adams' birth in 1902 that just opened in San Francisco and will travel through Chicago, London, Berlin, and Los Angeles before closing in New York late in 2003. I cannot remember a finer catalog for a photography show.

The show's images were selected by John Szarkowski who is the director emeritus of the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art. In selecting images for the show, he emphasized both what he thought was Ansel Adams' finest work, and his work that looked best in printed form. So the images provide room for an outstanding reproduction, and that's just what the book's publishers have provided.

The edition itself comes linen bound and in a matching linen slip cover. The pages are all of the highest quality heavy cover stock. The tritone printing is exquisite, limited only by the negatives and the current state-of-the art in printing. There is also a superb design. The works are sized to be in proportion to each others' negatives. Where images play off of each other, they are placed next to one another or on facing pages. Where that sort of conversation isn't possible, you see one image per two open pages. Unlike most of Ansel Adams' books, this one is on oversized pages so that there is the possibility of seeing the details as Mr. Adams intended them to be seen.

A nice bonus is that each book comes with a frameable tritone 13" X 11" print on heavy cover stock with fascimile signature by Ansel Adams and a blind embossed seal of the Ansel Adams Trust of Aspens, Dawn, Dolores River Canyon, Colorado, 1937 . . . which is also reproduced in the book. It is the image of aspens that you probably know best from Mr. Adams' work.

The essay focuses on two things: (1) The question of whether the photographer brings order to nature (as Edward Weston suggested) or simply sift its out (like gold dust from gravel in a stream) as Ansel Adams seems to have done. (2) A brief biography of Ansel Adams emphasizes his life as an art photographer and his early parallel interest in piano. Since the book is for a show, it would be inappropriate to try to cover much more. I was disappointed, however, that more of Mr. Adams' many letters were not included.

The main drawbacks of this book for most people will be that it is selective and narrow in focus. Many people will mistakenly think that this book is intended to be the ultimate biography and reproduction of his photographs. That work remains to be done. I shiver to think what that will cost us to purchase! You will get a taste of his many different nature and landscape shots, but not all of your old favorites or as many of any type as you would probably like. You will also yearn, if you are like me, for an essay that paid more attention to his efforts in conservation.

Of the 114 plates in the book, I found 27 to be outstanding to an extraordinary degree for my taste. Not surprisingly, seven were from Yosemite, and six from the Sierra Nevadas. A number of others were of mountain scenes. To me, Mr. Adams captures the spiritual connection of mountains, sky, and water in an unusually transcendant way. But his focused works of grass and leaves on water, dead trees, solitary trees, rocks, and sections of rock formations are equally intriguing and spiritual, just in a different way. Space does not permit me to cite all of these images by name. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many of my favorites in the book were new to me, even though I have read every Ansel Adams book I can find.

The exquisite details in these works overwhelm you with the sense of how much complexity is woven together into our natural world, and how seldom we take a moment to absorb every iota of it.

After you finish enjoying this fine work, I suggest that you think about where you find spirituality in your life. What places? What times? How do you capture and keep that feeling with you?

Touch God in new ways . . . all the time.

If you can only afford to buy one photo book / coffee table book this year . . . this is the book to buy. Period. This oversized book is beautifully reproduced and lovingly bound to last for ages; a commemorative print, not available elsewhere, is reproduced as a separate plate -- suitable for framing, which is a nice touch: Who among us can afford an original Ansel Adams photograph? As beautiful as this is as an example of book-making, its real value lies in the selection of photos.
Of course, no two photographers will ever agree as to what photos should have been included in this massive retrospective -- outside of the obvious ones like "Moonrise Over Hernandez County" -- but every photographer who looks at this book should find inspiration in Ansel's inimitable "eye" that saw, and captured on film, the ordinary and transformed it into the extraordinary; a photographer who saw the extraordinary and transformed it into the sublime.
As for the text: I think an academic perspective is certainly appropriate for such a retrospective, but I would dearly have loved to see a piece by, say, Joseph Holmes (NATURAL LIGHT--a gorgeous collection of photos) or another photographer to give it, so to speak, a "through the lens" perspective.
Although there are other coffee-table sized books published of Ansel Adams's work, this one sets a high watermark and, as such, should find a permanent place in the library of every serious photographer, aspiring photographer, or anyone with a sense of beauty who can appreciate the rare and wonderful talent that is Ansel Adams.

Please consider this advice--If you plan on purchasing this book, please take the time to see it at a local library or bookstore before ordering it.

I was amazed to see a relatively poor review here at Amazon reviews while I was searching for this book. A review in a photography magazine deemed it a must-have for any library. The promise of high quality reproductions on heavy paper and rare photos not seen outside of large showings was promising. I also felt that for the price, one couldn't go wrong....after all, the more expensive, the less likely to be a bust, right?

Well, I am sad to say that the book is quite a disappointment for me, too. It is a heavy work, good stock. Many of the photos, despite the promise of being wonderfuly printed, are of low contrast, and detail that I know is there on some of the original prints which I've seen, is not present. The notes on photos indicate some are reproduced at life size, yet appear to be little more than thumbnails, lost on the huge background. Perhaps this is the haute presentation, but not satisfying for my expectation.

Some of the prints are quite good. "Moonrise" does not disappoint, but several of the Yosemite favorites are fuzzy, and as mentioned earlier, seem to be of low contrast. This, in a book celebrating the man who championed the Zone system to give life to the print, seems a bit out of whack. Perhaps the graphics designers and the technicians doing the transfers did their best, but having seen several original prints done by Adams (and having spent way too much time in front of them marvelling at the detail, shadows, and contrast) I can say that the flavor and excitement that I remember getting from just seeing an original Adams has not been transferred to me in this book. I've viewed it in several different lights, on different days, and it just comes up short.

I was hoping for a classic. What I got was a heavy oversized book with a few keepers. I don't think I'm stretching it too far to say that I've seen better presentation of the quality of Adams' prints in some of the popular photography magazines than in a few here, especially the early prints.

As I said initially, it is a good book to page through, but make sure you take a look at a library or bookstore first to make sure it is something you must have for your own.

Hardcover - 3 stars
Softcover - 5 stars

I am a little dissapointed in the hardcover version. Some prints seem vague and a few with ink offset problems. Overall, the prints look quite low in contrast. I've seen AA's original prints, including the exact AA at 100 exhibit, and find the low contrast hard to accept. If you are interested in this book, the softcover version is a lot better, almost flawless - a true must-have for AA fans. Yes the print size is smaller than those in the hardcover, but the price is also smaller. It's interesting to notice that the softcover is printed in Germany while the hardcover I saw is in the US.

Ansel Adams at 100 is the catalog for the museum exhibition of the same name that has been traveling the United States and Europe from 2001-2003. Unfortunately, the exhibit did not come to a city near me, so I cannot comment on how well it is represented in the book. Since I did not see the museum exhibit from which the photographs were taken, I will be commenting on how this book fares as a stand-alone "coffee table"-type book of Ansel Adams' photographs.

The book has 191 pages, is 14 1/4x12 3/4 inches in size, and is hardbound with an oatmeal-colored linen cover and slipcase. Also included with the book is a 13x11 inch reproduction print of Aspens, Dawn (1937), which is suitable for framing. The book begins with a 42-page essay on Ansel Adams' life and career (don't worry, big print) by John Szarkowski, the book's editor and the director emeritus of the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art. The essay is followed by 114 tritone plates of Ansel Adams' photographs, all black-and-white.

I think the most helpful point that I can make about this book is that it is not a book of Ansel Adams' "greatest hits" or of his best photographs. I have yet to find a complete collection of either of those things. This is a very abridged version of the Ansel Adams at 100 museum exhibition which, as far as I can ascertain from the photographs in this book, sought to give the viewer a broad perspective of Ansel Adams' relationship with photography and with nature over the course of his life. Some of the photographs are great and some quite mediocre. But you will find photographs in this book that you have never seen before (unless, of course, you saw the exhibition). This includes a few very early photographs from the 1920's which are not very good, but are significant when contemplating Ansel Adams' whole career and the photographic history of that period. My favorite part of the book are some plates which have two versions: one that was printed in the 1940's or 1950's and a later print of the same image made in the 1970's. These plates are on facing pages so it is easy and interesting to see how Adams' perspective changed over the course of his life. I was reminded of some of my own work from long ago which I recently looked at and thought how differently I would print it now. (Adams' earlier prints are better, and so are mine. So much for improving with age.)

In conclusion, if you are looking for a comprehensive book of Ansel Adams' best work, this is not it. If you are a fan of Ansel Adams and would like to learn more about how Adams' work and nature photography as an art progressed and changed over the course of decades, this would be a great book to have. Ansel Adams at 100 is a must-have for hard-core Ansel Adams' fans and those interested in the evolution of nature photography in the 20th century.

This is a book much heralded by the editorial community,so it was with some disappointment when I proceeded to leaf through the pages.Upon closer scrutiny ,I found pages with ink and spot varnish setoff (the transfer of ink or other printing vehicles from one sheet to another) . This is either a byproduct of poor quality control or the printer was rushed to get this project finished.Aside from these problems,the book is very well concieved in its presentation of Ansel's maturation as an artist. The author could have easily turned this into a collection Adam's greatest hits as to appease the populous but fortunately this is not the case.In conclusion is this book worthy of the ($$$) price tag due to its technical printing flaws which i also found on other copies in two other book retailers in Vancouver I have to say : NO

Having read many conflicting reviews regarding the quality of the prints in this book, I checked it out at the local Borders prior to deciding whether or not to make the purchase. As a professional photographer, and a great admirer of Adams, the quality represented here was going to make the difference.

The book itself is beautiful. Simple and elegant. Beautifully bound, and a pleasure to hold.

I was very happy with the quality of most of the reproductions. There were a few that didn't quite make it, but having never seen the original prints of these images, maybe they were accurately reproduced, and the original wasn't up to my expectation.

One of my favorite features in the book are the opposing leaves that have the same print made from two different times in Adams career. It gives you the chance to see how interpretation and mood can affect the print that is made. Both outstanding, but both very different as well.

I would make this purchase again.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Ansel Adams' birth, John Szarkowski has selected what he considers Adams' finest works and offers a critique that ranks the photographer as one of the great artists of our time.

Szarkowski, Director Emeritus of the Department of Photography at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, often selects unexpected and unfamiliar prints in his collection. The book is great in every way. It was printed in tritones at Meridian Printing on paper made in Toulouse, France. The plates are scaled to reflect the relative size of the original photographs; the book and slipcase are bound in a linen cloth made in the Netherlands. It is a fitting tribute to Ansel Adams' art.

Adams' pictures define for me what the term landscape means. This is a great collection of his work and should serve provide a firm foundation for Adams' elevation from a photographer to an artist.

This book is another lesson from John Szarkowski on how to write about the ineffable. However, it is a catalog of a show that is simply beyond description and contains much that is not in the book. Do not buy the book as a substitute.

As a catalog it is good preparation for the show, even for this reader who saw Eloquent Light in 1963 and has been making photographs for 40 years in same locales as Adams. You won't find any massage for Zone-Heads, little Sierra Club poster art and almost no view camera cult food at all. Instead there is one powerful illustration after another of the evolution of an artist. Szarkowski uses his erudtion to place Adams in the art history of his time and the developing culture of the West Coast of which he was a part. He opens many many subjects and leaves us to flip through the book for illustration. He always raises more questions than he answers. He is a great teacher and has made sense of the nonsense about Adams that has accumulated over the years. Anyone with a pulse should be stimulated to see the show and investigate Weston, Strand, Stieglitz and others as well.

There is one understandable omission from the book that should have been in the show. There is none of Adams' color work in either. In the book "Ansel Adams In Color" are a couple of color plates done at the same time as some of the black and white images used in current show and catalog to illustrated Adams' style. The color plates show dramatically how Adams turned a three dimensional landscape into a powerful two dimensional graphic work of art. They also show those who have not been here just how dramatically colorful it is. In a very real sense, Adams had to overcome the color to see his subjects.

Another major part of the show that had to be omitted is the entire first room containing the works of other artists of Adams' time. Works of Marin, Hartley, O'Keeffe, Dove and several other of Adams' contemporaries and friends are the context in which he worked. Readers can look them up if they can't come to the show.

Szarkowski is at his best in this book in comparing Adams with Weston. I know of no other historian who so clearly shows what each was after and how these two artists and ultimately friends sometimes fed on each other. Szarkowski shows their portraits of each other to punctuate their differences. It is much more effective in the book than the show where the point is lost in the scale and depth of the presentation.

Finally, Szarkowski does justice to the network of friends, patrons and institutions that made California's art Californian. Any art historian or photography teacher must read this book.

Above all, use it to prep for the show. Then heed Mark Twain's caution and follow his example. Bring an extra sweater to San Francisco and see the show, and like Twain, buy a round-trip ticket.

I purchased the catalog after seeing the centennial exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The choice of photographs was strong and the exhibit flowed well from one photograph to another - as does the catalog. Like other reviewers, I would have liked to see more of Ansel Adams' greatest hits, but I found this catalog to be as good as or better than any other collection of his work that I have seen. The short introductory biographies in the catalog were informative, if a bit trite at times.

The exhibit is a must see and the (paperback) catalog a good buy.