He's kind of a big deal. We are honored to add Ansel Adams' canonical work to 20x200's Vintage Editions, starting with two stunning prints from two different U.S. National Parks: View with Rock Formation, Grand Canyon National Park and Near Grand Teton National Park.
View with Rock Formation, Grand Canyon National Park by Ansel Adams
8"x10" ($24) | 11"x14" ($60) | 16"x20" ($240) | 20"x24" ($600) | 30"x40" ($1800)
When we consider all the photographs ever taken of the American West, Ansel Adams' name comes up again and again. His enduring mark on landscape photography has made him a household name, and his work a global phenomenon. We're pleased to present View with Rock Formation, Grand Canyon National Park and Near Grand Teton National Park as our first Ansel Adams editions—carefully selected as classic examples of his most iconic work and ready to be loved by you, our collectors.
Near Grand Teton National Park by Ansel Adams
8"x10" ($24) | 11"x14" ($60) | 16"x20" ($240) | 20"x24" ($600) | 30"x40" ($1800)
Ansel Adams' first encounter with a national park was on a family trip to Yosemite as a teen. He fell completely in love with the "splendor of Yosemite" and began shooting with the Kodak No. 1 Box Brownie camera given to him by his parents. A few years later he joined the Sierra Club, befriending many of the club's leaders who were founders of America's emerging conservation movement.
Photography became an obsession for Adams. Not only did he love the creative artistry of the work, but he reveled in the technicalities of the medium. Frustrated by images that didn't capture exactly what he saw, Adams developed the "zone system," which is still used by large-format photographers today. This system gave his images an impressive, stunning depth and made them immediately recognizable as his work.
Adams quickly gained repute in the 1930s, both for his striking landscape images and also for his own effusive energy. He also remained a staunch environmental conservationist, writing thousands of letters to politicians, newspaper editors, and his Sierra Club colleagues in support of those views. Before long, his photographs came to represent the conservation movement.
It comes as no surprise that in 1941, the National Park Service approached Adams about a photo mural of the lands protected within national parks. Both of today's editions, View with Rock Formation, Grand Canyon National Park and Near Grand Teton National Park, are from this very project. With the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' entry into World War II, the mural was brought to a halt. However, the images Adams did take explored the magnificent natural beauty of the American West and established him as the last defining figure in the romantic tradition of American landscape imagery.
Because of Ansel Adams' status as *the* American landscape photographer, we knew his work was an essential addition to our Vintage Editions—a collection we've carefully curated not only to explore the history of photography and other media, but most importantly to provide you, our collectors, with classic imagery we know you'll love living with.
With art for everyone,
Team 20x200
