Ansel Adams
'Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, Ca'
Estimate:
25,000 - 35,000 USD
Ansel Adams
1902 - 1984
'Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, Ca'
gelatin silver print, mounted, signed in pencil on the mount, the photographer's Carmel studio stamp (BMFA 11), with title and date in ink, on the reverse, framed, 1927, probably printed between 1973 and 1977
image: 19 1/8 by 14 1/4 in. (50.5 by 36.2 cm.)
frame: 35 1/2 by 31 1/2 in. (90.2 by 80 cm.)
This photograph is in generally excellent condition. Upon extremely close inspection in high raking light, a few hairline scratches and deposits of original retouching are visible. The lower right corner is bumped. The mount corners are slightly bumped.
On the reverse of the mount is some minor soiling. '999.124.2' and 'AA/1211' are written in an unidentified hand in pencil.
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.
Ansel Adams, Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs (Boston, 1983), p. 2
Ansel Adams, Ansel Adams: An Autobiography (Boston, 1985), p. 77
James Alinder, Ansel Adams 1902-1984 (Carmel: The Friends of Photography, 1984), title page
James Alinder and John Szarkowski, Ansel Adams: Classic Images (Boston, 1985), pl. 2
Mary Street Alinder, Ansel Adams: A Biography (New York, 1996), facing p. 106
Mary Street Alinder and Andrea Gray Stillman, Ansel Adams: Letters and Images 1916-1984 (Boston, 1988), p. 31
Mary Street Alinder, Group f.64 (New York, 2014), unpaginated
Peter Galassi, Ansel Adams in Yosemite Valley: Celebrating the Park at 150 (Boston, 2014), p. 143
Karen E. Haas and Rebecca A. Senf, Ansel Adams in the Lane Collection (Boston, 2005), pl. 5
Barbara Buhler Lynes, Sandra S. Phillips, and Richard B. Woodward, Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities (Boston, 2008), fig. 2
Liliane de Cock Morgan, ed., Ansel Adams (Hastings-on-Hudson, 1972), pl. 8
Nancy Newhall, Ansel Adams: The Eloquent Light, Photographs 1923-1963 (San Francisco: M. H. de Young Memorial Museum and Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1963), dust jacket and p. 45
Karen E. Quinn and Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Ansel Adams: The Early Years (Boston, 1991), pl. 6 and 7
John P. Schaefer, The Ansel Adams Guide Book 1: Basic Techniques of Photography (Boston, 1992), p. 153
Amy Scott, Art of An American Icon: Yosemite (Los Angeles, 2006), p 124
Rebecca Senf, Making a Photographer: The Early Work of Ansel Adams (New Haven, 2020), fig. 2.19
Andrea Gray Stillman, ed., Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs (Boston, 2007), p. 35
John Szarkowski, Ansel Adams at 100 (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2001), figure 10
John Szarkowski, The Portfolios of Ansel Adams (Boston, 1977), p. 41