April 1, 2007 – May 13, 2007 Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown

Featuring the work of one of the most celebrated photographers of the 20th century in the exhibition Ansel Adams: The Man Who Captured the Earth’s Beauty, the Fenimore Art Museum will showcase 25 black and white, richly detailed photographs capturing the beauty of the American West. Organized by the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina, this exhibition includes such masterpieces as Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California; Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico; and Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, California. Through Adam’s technical virtuosity and sensitive eye, these dramatic images remain profound reminders of his reverence for the beauty of the earth and the healing force of nature in our lives.

As a young mountaineer, Ansel Adams discovered the natural beauty of the Western landscape. He is perhaps among the last of the Romantic artists who view the great spaces of wilderness as a metaphor for freedom and heroic aspirations. Adams has sketched the outlines of a new pictorial understanding of the wild landscape, based on nature’s intimate details, unnoted cases, and ephemeral gestures.

The Mint Museum’s collection of Ansel Adams’ photographs was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Peter G. Scotese. The photographs in this exhibition were published by the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust in 1980 and 1981 from vintage negatives.