Ansel Adams

mounted, signed in pencil on the mount, signed, dated, and inscribed 'For Tom Zito' in ink and with the photographer's Carmel studio stamp (BMFA 11), with title and date in ink, on the reverse, framed, Buhl Collection and Guggenheim Museum exhibition labels on the reverse, 1976

The photographer to Tom Zito, 1980
Weston Gallery, Carmel, 1994

New York, Guggenheim Museum, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection, June - September 2004, and 4 other international venues through 2007 (see Appendix 1)

Middletown, Delaware, Warner Gallery at St. Andrew's School, Selected Works from the Buhl Collection, October - November 2011

Jennifer Blessing, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection (Guggenheim Foundation, 2004), pp. 83 and 200 (this print)

James Alinder, Ansel Adams: 50 Years of Portraits (Friends of Photography, 1978), pl. 25

This print is in generally excellent condition. The tip of the lower right print corner is lifting slightly, and under raking light, a small deposit of original retouching is visible on the surface in the area of the sitter's lip. Karen Haas's and Rebecca Senf's book, 'Ansel Adams in the Lane Collection,' publishes the most comprehensive list to date of the studio stamps and labels Adams used throughout his career. Our dating of this print is based upon the authors' assessment of the use dates of stamp 11 on the reverse of the mount: 1973 through 1977.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The photograph offered here was personally inscribed by Adams in 1980 to the journalist and photographer Tom Zito.  In 1979, Zito had reviewed Adams’s Museum of Modern Art retrospective, Ansel Adams and the West, for the Washington Post.