This image was included in Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras published in 1927 [see Lot 91] as well as Adams' lavishly produced Sierra Nevada, The John Muir Trail of 1938. While the Parmelian Prints were on Dassonville Charcoal Black, a tissue-thin paper with a velvety surface, the present photograph is on heavy-weight paper with a textured surface. This image is a clear precursor of the masterworks that would come later in Adams' career, such as the dramatic Grand Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming [see Lot 53] , with its central mountain peaks, luminous cloud-filled sky, and stunning detailed landscape.
Years later in his autobiography, Adams described this photograph: 'I can recall the excitement of the scene, though at the time I had no precise idea of the image I was to make. It seemed that everything fell into place in the most agreeable way: rock, cloud, mountain, and exposure. I am sure things were going on in my mind: associations, memories, relative structuring of experiences and ideas, and the flowering of intuition. This picture still has a certain unity and magic that very few others suggested in those early years' (An Autobiography, p. 73).
Rebecca Senf on the Early Work of Ansel Adams • 26 June 2020
