Ansel Adams Art
The San Francisco–born photographer Ansel Adams is celebrated for his majestic black-and-white photography that brought the deserts, mountains and forests of the American West to the public. His images, beloved for their raw beauty and the magic of their subjects, are known around the world and widely reproduced as calendars and posters.
A sickly child with little attraction to sports or games, Adams early on developed an avid interest in the natural surroundings of his San Francisco home, on the heights facing Golden Gate Park. This passion found a productive outlet in photography, which he discovered at 14, when his father gave him his first camera during a family trip to Yosemite National Park. He spent much of the ensuing decades capturing Yosemite’s vast and varied wonders.
Adams’s photographs were first published in 1921. Even these early efforts demonstrate his eye for composition and his sensitivity to tonal balance and textural contrast. In the mid-1920s, he began to play with soft focus, as in the dreamy 1927 Lyell Fork Meadows, which appears bathed in a hazy, nostalgic light. The 1948 Sunrise over Sand Dunes in Death Valley exemplifies Adams’s later experiments with stark contrasts in light and geometric framing, which transform the landscape into a near abstraction.
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1950s Ansel Adams Art
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21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Ansel Adams Art
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1970s Ansel Adams Art
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1960s Ansel Adams Art
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Mid-20th Century Ansel Adams Art
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Mid-20th Century Ansel Adams Art
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Late 20th Century Ansel Adams Art
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Late 20th Century Ansel Adams Art
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2010s Ansel Adams Art
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2010s Ansel Adams Art
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Mid-20th Century Ansel Adams Art
Silver Gelatin
21st Century and Contemporary Ansel Adams Art
Silver Gelatin
Late 20th Century Ansel Adams Art
Silver Gelatin
1950s Ansel Adams Art
Silver Gelatin
1950s Ansel Adams Art
Silver Gelatin
Ansel Adams art for sale on 1stDibs.
Artists Similar to Ansel Adams
- What was Ansel Adams concept?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Photographer Ansel Adams spoke of the ‘Art of Visualization’ around his photography methods. This concept revolves around the photographer imagining where the audience’s eye will move across a scene before taking the shot. Visualization helps the photographer frame a scene in a way that aligns with their intent. Shop a collection of Ansel Adams photography from some of the world’s top sellers on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertFebruary 1, 2024Ansel Adams' most famous photo is open for debate. One of his first photographs to draw attention from the public was 1927's Monolith, the Face of Half Dome, an image of the Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. Other notable photos by Adams include Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico; Half Dome, Merced River, Winter, Yosemite National Park, California; San Francisco From Twin Peaks and Sand Dunes, Sunrise, Death Valley National Monument, California. On 1stDibs, explore a wide variety of Ansel Adams art.