Art as a Voice — Ansel Adams Lecture — January 30, 2009
On Friday, January 30, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. at the San Juan Community Theatre, we are hosting Dr. Michael Adams, son of Ansel Adams, for a lecture and Powerpoint presentation on the personal and artistic life of his famous father. Adams talk will cover Ansel's early years, environmental activities, trips to the Southwest and Ansel's feelings toward photography.
Arguably the most famous American photographer, Adams elevated photography to a high art form while simultaneously making it accessible to all. His photos are widely reproduced today and are some of the most recognizable in the world. Ansel's clear black and white photos, particularly those of Yosemite, were able to capture the raw emotion of the landscape. "Ansel Adams", wrote John Szorkowski of the New York Museum of Modern Art, "attuned himself more precisely than any photographer before him to a visual understanding of the specific quality of the light that fell on a specific place at a specific moment. For Adams the natural landscape is not a fixed and solid sculpture but an insubstantial image, as transient as the light that continually redefines it. This sensibility to the specificity of light was the motive that forced Adams to develop his legendary photographic technique."
A passionate conservationist, Adams deployed his photographs in the cause of wilderness preservation and was instrumental in having Sequoia and Kings Canyon designated as national parks.
In 1980, Ansel Adams was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Dr. Michael Adams is retired Major General of the United States Air Force and Deputy Surgeon General for Air National Guard Affairs. Dr. Adams also has the distinction of being the physician to our astronauts. He will be accompanied by his wife, Jeanne Falk Adams.
