Reynolda House Museum of American Art Announces Ansel Adams Exhibition to Open Spring 2016

An exhibition of work by the best-known photographer in American history will open at Reynolda House Museum of American Art in spring 2016. “Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light” will be on view March 11 through July 17, 2016. This breathtaking exhibition of nearly 40 landmark photographs has never been on view together, and Reynolda House is the exhibition’s only venue.

“This exhibition is being organized especially for our museum,” said Allison Perkins, executive director of Reynolda House. “Not only was Ansel Adams a widely popular photographer, he was a respected artist and activist. We wanted to bring together his work here in North Carolina, in an exhibition that will showcase his incredible artistic skill along with his environmental advocacy.”

The exhibition’s debut at Reynolda House coincides with the centennial of the National Park Service, which marks its 100th anniversary in August 2016. The National Parks Conservation Association has joined Reynolda House as the National Outreach Partner for the exhibition. During the exhibition season, Reynolda House will embark on a series of events and talks focused on themes of sustainability and preservation, highlighted by an Earth Day event co-presented by Wake Forest University.

Adams subscribed to the romantic tradition of American landscape, an artistic lineage that included major American painters—including Thomas Cole, Frederic Church and Albert Bierstadt —whose work anchors the collection of Reynolda House Museum of American Art.

“Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light” will include photographs from the collection of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and two private collections in Texas.

Adams developed a system for creating luminous, vivid landscape photographs in sharp contrasts of black and white. He then printed his film negatives with meticulous attention to craft. Adams’s manner of framing and capturing both magnificent, large-scale landscape formations, and small, exquisite natural objects created icons of the American wilderness.

An early and passionate environmentalist as well as an artist, Adams advocated powerfully for wilderness preservation, national park creation, and the Sierra Club, with which he was affiliated from the age of 17.

The museum is partnering with Major Sponsor Modern Automotive to present the “Modern Landscape Photography” contest during the exhibition. A call for entries will be announced in October, and submissions will be accepted through February 2016. A jury will select three finalists, whose photographs will be on display throughout Winston-Salem from March to May. More details on the contest will be announced soon.

“Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light” has been organized by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. Reynolda House is grateful for the generous support of the exhibition from Major Sponsors Modern Automotive, Jerome and Beverly Jennings, and the Charles H. Babcock Jr. Arts and Community Initiative Endowment; and Exhibition Partners Jeffrey and Sissy Whittington, and the Ecology Wildlife Foundation. Special thanks to National Parks Conservation Association, our National Outreach Partner.