Stream, Sea, Clouds, Rodeo Lagoon, Marin County, California, 1962
Photograph by Ansel Adams
Collection Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona
Ansel Adams: At the Water's Edge
On view June 9, 2012 to October 8, 2012
Located in the: Special Exhibition Galleries
Ansel Adams' appreciation for water was never far from the surface. He was drawn to the subject in all its forms, from rain, fog, mist and clouds to ice and snow. He also photographed water's effects in tide pools, weathered buildings and erosion patterns. His fascination with surf and crashing waves fed his interest in waterfalls and rapids in the High Sierra. In Yellowstone, it fueled his photographs of Old Faithful.
As in the famous Surf Sequence ca.1940, Adams often photographed water in ways that embrace seriality, motion, and time as meaningful modern themes.
At the Water's Edge combines famous images with extraordinary but lesser-known examples, expanding knowledge of Adams' work and building appreciation for the artist as an important and innovative modernist.
Support for the exhibition was provided by David H. Arrington, the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, and the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum.
Media Partner:
Ansel Adams: At the Water's Edge is part of PEM's Year of Photography, which is sponsored in part by WBUR, Boston's NPR news station, Hunt's Photo & Video, and Canon.
Images
Reflections at Mono Lake, California, 1948
Photograph by Ansel Adams
Gelatin silver print
David H. Arrington Collection
©2011 The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust
Fern Spring, Dusk, Yosemite Valley, about 1961
Photograph by Ansel Adams
Collection Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona
Barnacles, Cape Cod, 1938
Photograph by Ansel Adams
Collection Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona
Waterfall, Northern Cascades, Washington, 1960
Photograph by Ansel Adams
Collection Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona
The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1942
Photograph by Ansel Adams
Collection Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona
Stream, Sea, Clouds, Rodeo Lagoon, Marin County, California, 1962
Photograph by Ansel Adams
Collection Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona
Related Events
PEM members at the Sponsor, Patron and Benefactor levels are invited to a complimentary evening reception to celebrate the opening of Ansel Adams: At the Water's Edge. Phillip Prodger, curator of Photography, moderates a panel discussion of Adams' work at 7:15 pm.
Light hors d'oeuvres and cash bar
For more information or to become an Ambassador member, please call the Membership Department at 978-745-9500, ext. 3141.
Open House | 10 am–5 pm
PEM members are invited to view the exhibition during normal museum hours before it opens to the general public. Reservations are not required.
Members' Evening Reception | 6:30–9 pm
PEM members are invited to an evening preview to celebrate the opening of Ansel Adams: At the Water's Edge. Program includes highlights from the PBS American Experience production of Amsel Adams: A Documentary Film.
Reservations and advance payment required by Thursday, May 31.
Light hors d'oeuvres and beverages will be served
Members $17 | Guests $20
For more information or to become a PEM member, please call the Membership Department at 978-745-9500, ext. 3141.
Included with museum admission
Explore the creative vision and the personal world of a photographer who forever changed our image of the American environment. Special presentations by Ansel Adams' son and by the curator of the complete archive of Adams' work.
Made possible by the Lowell Institute
Docent-led Gallery Tours
ANSEL ADAMS: AT THE WATER'S EDGE
11 am and 2 pm | Meet at information desk
Tickets available at admissions desk on day of tour
Presentation
ANSEL ADAMS, A SON'S PERSPECTIVE
1–2 pm | Morse Auditorium | For adults
Reservations by June 6
Enjoy this special opportunity to hear Michael Adams, the son of photographer Ansel Adams, talk about his father's childhood, his introduction to the Sierra Nevada, his visits to the American Southwest, his involvement with the Sierra Club and his documentary work at the Manzanar relocation center during World War II.
Film Program
CAPTURING TIME AND SEQUENCE IN FILM
3–5 pm | Morse Auditorium | For adults
Reservations by June 7
Michael Dow, doctoral candidate at New York University and teacher of film and animation studies at Northeastern University, Boston, presents works of experimental filmmakers from Adams' time who explored sequence and time through their films, as Adams did in his photographs.
