Ansel Adams

mural-sized, mounted to Crescent illustration board, signed in ink on the mount, the photographer's Carmel studio stamps (BMFA 7 and 8), titled in ink, on the reverse, framed, 1944, probably printed between 1963 and 1970

Gift of the photographer to Wallace and Mary Stegner, 1975

By descent to a private collection

Bonhams New York, 28 April 2015, Lot 6

Shelburn Museum, Vermont, Ansel Adams and Edward Burtynsky: Constructed Landscapes, June - October 2010

Nancy Newhall, Ansel Adams: The Eloquent Light, Photographs 1923-1963 (San Francisco, 1963), unpaginated

Ansel Adams (Morgan & Morgan, 1972), pl. 77

Ansel Adams: Yosemite and the Range of Light (Boston, 1979), pl. 99

James Alinder and John Szarkowski, Ansel Adams: Classic Images (Boston, 1985), pl. 38

John Szarkowski, Ansel Adams at 100 (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2001), pl. 85

Ansel Adams, Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs (Boston, 2002), p. 162

Andrea G. Stillman, Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs (Boston, 2007), p. 245

This impressive mural-sized print, on Crescent illustration board, is in generally excellent condition. An exceptional level of detail is visible throughout, from the clearly defined 'L P' in the mountainside, to the bright mountain peaks, to the grazing horse in the foreground, and the print is rendered with nuanced tonality. Upon close examination, there are two minuscule chips to the emulsion along the lower right edge. In high raking light, the following are barely discernible: a few tiny deposits of retouching; a small, subtle starburst-shaped disturbance that may break the emulsion in the upper portion of the sky; and a few very minor, superficial scratches in the lower left quadrant. The mount has yellowed with age. The ink signature is somewhat faded, but remains legible. This photograph has undergone conservation and a full treatment report is available upon request from the Photographs department.
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 powerful mural-sized print of one of Adams's best-known images comes originally from the collection of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner (1909-1993).  Long referred to as ‘the dean of Western Writers,’ Stegner often explored his passion for the American landscape in his novels and short stories.  He and Adams shared a steadfast commitment to environmental conservation and both were intimately involved with the Sierra Club.  Over the course of their decades-long friendship, Adams gave Wallace and his wife, Mary, several photographs.   

Describing how Adams’s passion for nature preservation influenced his photographs, Stegner wrote, ‘The man who made unforgettable images out of grandeur and mystery of nature did so because he could not help doing so, because he loved what he saw.  The man who spent his energy defending nature against the careless and greedy also worked from love.  His environmentalism was not a side issue, something done with the left hand in spare time.  It sprang from the same source as his art, and involved him wholly’ (Letters and Images, p. ix). 

The present photograph has an impressive open tonality throughout, not typically associated with prints made in this era.  The 'L P' (for Lone Pine) is clearly visible in the dark hills at the left of the print.  These initials, which were actually cut into the mountainside, were often heavily retouched by Adams and, in 1976, removed from the negative altogether.

Of this ‘splendid snapshot,’ Stegner said, ‘I have that print on my wall in an enlargement of about two by three feet, a size that better suggests the grand scale.  I have looked at it, studied it, innumerable time, and every time I do so it lifts me.  It is like hearing the choral movement of Beethoven’s Ninth.  Once again, darkness has been overtaken by light, as if an earth promise were being kept’ (Arizona Highways, January 1984).