Exhibition Review- Ansel Adams: 'Photography from Mountains to the Sea'

Ansel Adams was an american photographer who worked on a large format camera and is best known for his black and white landscapes. This exhibition displayed a lot of his work considering the space maybe too much ranging from waterfalls and rivers to mountains and close-up shoots too.

This exhibition of Ansel Adams work was held at the national maritime museum in London from November 9th 2012 until 28th of April 2013 which is a long time for an exhibition to be held but for someone so famous and influential in photography it is a must see exhibition.

The piece of work that stood out the most was his large triptych due to the scale of them and they were near enough in the center of the exhibition space however it could be questioned that they really work best as individual pieces as appose to a trip-tic. Triptych normally fit together much better then these did it was like Adams' just printed his all time favorite 3 photographs in large scale because he could. Having said that they way he made each image was quite outstanding especially for the 1950's. Adams' did this by hanging large sheets of unexposed paper on the wall and projected his image horizontally from the enlarger. These had to be printed in sections and joined on backing board. 

Although this was the biggest piece in the exhibition is was no where near the most visually appealing one of the show. Several other prints such as his close up of a shipwreck titled, 'shipwreck series, lands end, San Francisco, 1931'. Adams uses the word extract instead of abstract as a photographer can only represent a moment in time however it can be selective. Well that's what drew me to this series how he had extracted something from such a big thing which really forces the viewer to focus on what happened giving very little sense of escape.

Walking into the exhibition and heading around the corner I noticed it was quite a large space but had lots of temporary walls put in which actually made it feel really small. The first thing I noticed was Ansel Adams quotes on the walls which I thought really added to the feel of the exhibition, it reminded me of an old Diner. The quote that stood out to me most was one Adams' wrote in a letter to his father in 1920,

"Wait and see what I can do with it- I may fall down completely: 

Photography is limited, you know, but I am hoping for results."

He fills many people currently studying photography with inspiration in a way he that he says it wont be easy or a walk in the park but its possible so don't let anything get in the way. The exhibition felt quite mix and match but except for there being way too much in one room the different size photographs in all different frames ranging in thickness and colour, some black some white added character to the show. As well as the frames the wall colour were pastel colours and sepia tones which complemented the photographs. Most exhibitions you walk into have bright white walls that take the attention away from the artwork and identical frames which gives a more professional looking finish. 

Overall, except for them packing way too much work into one room which really put a downer on the experience of viewing Adams' work in person however saying that his work really does have a lot more impact in reality and books really do not show his work at there best so his work is really one of the few that going to an exhibition of is a must see.

Source:

http://www.rmg.co.uk/visit/events/ansel-adams

Morgan-Griffiths, Lauris, Ansel Adams: Landscapes of the American West, 2008