Left: Alan Ross (left) assists Ansel Adams (right) with the camera, 1977. Photo by Frank Neimeir, Courtesy Alan Ross. Right: Photographer Alan Ross is the exclusive printer of the Ansel Adams Yosemite Special Edition negatives, an assignment Adams personally selected Ross for in 1975. Ross stands with his works on view in the Ansel Adams Gallery, located in Yosemite, California, Courtesy George Rose. Courtesy photos.
Exhibition: Sharing the Light: Ansel Adams and Alan Ross
On view: Through March 20, 2022
Location: Wildling Museum, 1511-B Mission Drive, Solvang, CA 93463
SOLVANG — The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature is pleased to announce Sharing the Light: Ansel Adams and Alan Ross, opening to the public on Saturday, September 25, 2021 in the Wildling Museum’s main gallery. The exhibition will explore the American West through the lenses of both Ansel Adams and Alan Ross, and also includes selections from Ross’ international photography projects. The Wildling Museum’s exhibition will mark the first institutional show dedicated to the two photographers’ works.
Sharing the Light highlights the careers of both Adams and Ross, who were close friends and colleagues. Ross, who served as Adams’ longtime assistant, later developed into an internationally-acclaimed photographer in his own right. The exhibition will provide insight into their respective connections to nature, and technical and artistic mastery of photography.
“This will be the first time Ansel and I have been exhibited together in a museum,” says Ross. “Ansel and his work have been such a huge part of my life for the last 48 years; it is indeed a very wonderful feeling to be sharing the same wall-space in a museum – especially a museum so dedicated to the environment.”
Ross continues to work as the exclusive printer of the Ansel Adams Yosemite Special Edition negatives, an assignment Adams personally selected him for in 1975. Ross produces individual prints by hand from Adams’ original negatives using traditional darkroom techniques. The exhibition will also include Ross’ personal insights into working alongside the legendary Adams.
“Always intertwined with the work was (Adams’) sense of mirth – terrible jokes and puns, often told for the sixth or seventh time, which never failed to give rise to his own infectious and mountainous laugh, eliciting groans and grins from all within range,” says Ross of Adams. “I don’t believe I ever saw him gloomy or morose, and the rare instances of anger were matters of principle – personal integrity, the environment and politics. He took himself and his work seriously but had, and never lost, an ability to laugh at himself. What a wonderful man to be around – never a dull moment, never a gloomy day.”
Adams was recognized during his lifetime for his iconic landscape photography and life-long wilderness conservation advocacy, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Additional exhibition programming will be announced soon. For more information and to follow programming updates throughout the exhibition, visit: www.wildlingmuseum.org/news/sharing-the-light-ansel-adams-and-alan-ross.
About Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) is among the most notable photographers of the 20th century. He rose to prominence as a landscape photographer of the American West and is best known for his iconic black and white images of Yosemite National Park. Adams co-founded Group f/64 with Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham, an association of photographers dedicated to elevating photography to a fine art at a time when photography was strictly considered a form of documentation. Adams later developed the Zone System technique with fellow photographer Fred Archer, a method of photographic exposure and development dedicated to a deep technical understanding of tonal range, which resulted in photographic prints marked by clarity and depth, elements for which Adams’ work is perhaps best known.
In 1940, Adams served as a key advisor in the creation of the photography department at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) along with Beaumont Newhall and David McAlpin. Adams went on to help organize the department’s first photography exhibition and was instrumental in establishing photography as a fine art medium.
Throughout his career, Adams used his photography to promote wilderness conservation and worked as an active environmentalist. His advocacy aided the expansion of the U.S. National Park system and his environmental work was recognized by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 when he awarded Adams with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Adams’ works are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K., among numerous other public and private collections around the world.
About Alan Ross
Alan Ross (b. 1948) is a renowned photographer whose unique vision combines traditional photographic methods with today’s technology. Ross is best known for his tonally exquisite black-and-white photographs of the American West. He worked side-by-side with Ansel Adams as his photographic assistant, and was personally selected by Adams to print his Yosemite Special Edition negatives, a role he has maintained since 1975. Alan lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he pursues his own photography, teaches one-on-one workshops in the art of seeing and master printing, and writes articles and blogs sharing his vast knowledge of the art and craft of photography.
Ross’s works are included in the permanent collections of Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI; Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM; and numerous other public and private collections around the world.
About the Wildling Museum
The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature, where art and nature meet, offers visitors a unique perspective on the importance of preserving our natural heritage. Through the eyes of artists, and education and field experiences, guests can renew their relationship with the wilderness and understand its fragile nature – hopefully leaving more committed toward ensuring those spaces remain for future generations. Current public hours are Friday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more information, and to volunteer or join as a member to support this important local arts and nature institution, please visit www.wildlingmuseum.org.
Additional digital resources are available at www.wildlingmuseum.org/virtual-visit, including online galleries from all current exhibitions, links to art activities, videos, and more to help online visitors experience the museum from home.