cover image Ansel Adams and the American Landscape: A Biography

Ansel Adams and the American Landscape: A Biography

Jonathan Spaulding. University of California Press, $45 (533pp) ISBN 978-0-520-08992-1

Ansel Adams (1902-1984) created some of the most influential photographs ever made; he was one of this century's leading exponents of environmental values. Writer and scholar Spaulding casts a broad net in this fine biography; it is a well-rounded portrait of the man, an analysis of his work and an exploration of the development of photography as a fine art. As a youth, Adams had rigorous piano training that proved invaluable in his career, giving him intensely developed work habits and an insatiable quest for technical excellence. Spaulding follows Adams through his meeting with Alfred Steiglitz and his early shows, his collaboration with Mary Austin and Georgia O'Keeffe, his long friendship with Beaumont and Nancy Newhall (she collaborated with him on later books) and his deep involvement with the Sierra Club. A final, fitting tribute came a year after his death when a peak in Yosemite was officially named Mount Ansel Adams. Photos. (Nov.)