Ansel Adams

flush-mounted, titled in pencil and with the photographer's '131 - 24th Avenue San Francisco' studio (BMFA 4) and 'Virginia Adams Collection' stamps and remnants of an earlier mount on the reverse, tipped to a modern mount, Carmel studio and 'Virginia Adams Collection' stamps on the reverse, circa 1932, probably printed between 1950 and 1962 (An American Place, pl. 18)

This early print is in generally excellent condition. Upon very close examination, some fine superficial surface scratches and tiny deposits of original retouching are visible. There is minor edge chipping. On the reverse of the mount are adhesive and paper-ply remnants for a previous mounting. The reverse of the mount is adhered in the lower corners to a secondary modern mount. On the reverse of the secondary mount, there is a 'Photograph by Ansel Adams / 181 Van Ess Way Carmel, California 93923' stamp (not in 'Ansel Adams in the Lane Collection'), with title and date ('n.d.') in an unidentified hand in pencil, and a 'Virginia Adams Collection' stamp. 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. The authors' assessment of the use dates of stamp 4 on the reverse of this photograph is 1950 to 1962.
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.

This image of a board fence in South San Francisco was included by Adams in his important one-man show at Alfred Stieglitz's gallery, An American Place, in 1936.  The original exhibition print of 'Fence' from that show is now in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. 

The Adams exhibition of which this image was a part was a milestone in the photographer's career.  The photographs in that show and the importance of the exhibition are discussed in detail in Andrea Gray Stillman's Ansel Adams: An American Place, 1936 (Tucson, 1982), to which this entry is indebted. 

Adams met the legendary Alfred Stieglitz on his first trip to New York City in March of 1933 (see Lot 67).   Impressed with Adams's portfolio of images, Stieglitz encouraged him to continue his work and early in 1936 offered him a one-man show at An American Place.  Adams chose 45 images to comprise this landmark exhibition, which ran from 25 October to 27 November 1936.   The show was favorably reviewed, and there were successful sales.  Many of the original exhibition prints are now in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Princeton University Art Museum, gifts of the original owners who acquired them from the show or the photographer himself.   

The image offered here, Fence, South San Francisco, was entitled simply 'Fence' in the American Place exhibition.  As Stillman points out, another segment of this same weathered board fence comprised the subject of the Adams photograph Boards and Thistles that was included in the first Group f.64 show at the de Young Museum in 1932.  Both Fence and Boards and Thistles are characterized by the principles of good photography Adams set forth in his introduction to the American Place exhibition checklist: 'Appropriate sonority of tone, accuracy of detail and texture, and a pure, unadulterated photographic effect, are the prime requisites of the art of photography.' 

Prints of Fence, South San Francisco, are scarce.  As Stillman observes, many of the photographs in the American Place show, the present image among them, were rarely printed by Adams later in his career.