Ansel Adams exhibit at The Cleveland Institute of Art May 19, 2007

An exhibition of 117 images by the iconic photographer Ansel Adams (1902-1984) will be on view in The Cleveland Institute of Art's Reinberger Galleries, 11141 East Boulevard, Cleveland, from May 20 until August 19. "Ansel Adams: A Legacy" is a co-presentation with the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The prints, which represent a superb survey of Adams' 60-year career, were selected by the photographer to showcase his achievements. They are on loan to the Cleveland Museum of Art from the collection of Lynn and Tom Meredith of Austin, Texas. Co-curators of the exhibition are Tom Hinson, the Museum's curator of photography, and Bruce Checefsy, director of the Institute's Reinberger Galleries.

Adam's familiar landscape pictures are well represented, especially those of Yosemite National Park, a lifelong source of inspiration for the artist. However, Adams wanted to be recognized for the breadth of his subject matter, not exclusively his sweeping landscapes, so the exhibition also presents intimate texture studies, architectural views and charming portraits marked by a keen sensitivity to the subject's mood, body language, and location.

"These photographs constitute the largest single holding of Adams' final vision, made by the photographer primarily between the 1960s and the early 1980s, shortly before his death," noted Hinson. "They share the strong contrast and large size that Adams preferred during those years, frequently avoiding the middle tones that he admired earlier in his career."

Adams made a lasting mark on the way photography is considered, experienced, practiced, and studied. "He was a pioneering advocate for artistic photography, championing the medium's capacity for personal expression over its basic ability to record reality," said Hinson. Equally passionate about the environment, Adams worked with the Sierra Club throughout his life to preserve parklands.

The photographs in "A Legacy" were originally given by Adams to Friends of Photography, one of several organizations he helped to organize in order to promote fine art photography. Founded in 1967 in the living room of Adams's home in Carmel, California, the small group of friends soon grew to one of the world's largest associations for both practitioners and devotees of the medium before its dissolution in 2001.

Tom Meredith was searching for photographs by Adams for a 30th anniversary gift for his wife when he learned of the availability of this collection, which at the time was stored in a San Francisco warehouse, soon to be shipped off to auction. Following the practice of Friends of Photography, the Merediths have continued to make this great archive available to the general public.

Special hours for the Reinberger Gallery, in the Institute's Gund Building

Gallery Hours:

Tuesday - Sunday 10am-5pm
Wednesday and Friday evenings open until 9pm.
Gallery Closed Monday

For further information, call 216-421-7407. Admission to the show is free.

Official Website: http://www.clevelandart.org/exhibit/exhibitDetails.asp?eID=125