From the Missouri west : photographs. Page nos. 56, 57

From the Missouri west : photographs. Page nos. 56, 57

From the Missouri west : photographs / by Robert Adams

A Photographic Look at the New American West (Exhibition : 2008)

Robert Adams has spent much of his career photographing the American West. An early proponent of the new topographics movement, Adams' approach to photography considers man's intervention in the modern landscape. This work, which takes the Missouri River as the starting point of the pioneer west, took Adams out of the suburbs to "rediscover some of the land forms that impressed our forebears." His only proviso was that each image includes some trace of man.

A Photographic Look at the New American West. -- The landscape of the American West has long been a subject for photographers. The advent of photography in the mid-nineteenth century and the development of easier methods of photographic reproduction corresponded with the western expansion of the nation. Photographic documentation augmented the reports issued as part of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories and photography was capturing the wondrous archaeological discoveries being made, as well as capturing the vestiges of Native American culture. Civic boosters, hotel resorts and railway lines were using photography in promotional material to woo visitors to the western states. -- The post-World War II American West was a very different place. As the public claimed what was once open space for development the wilderness that characterized the west became increasingly scarce and therefore more precious. Remaining wilderness areas, such as the National Parks, provided photographic inspiration for photographers beyond the mere documentary, ornamental, or promotional. Images of the West became, in addition, a vehicle for personal expression, whether it was the awe-inspiring grandeur revealed by Ansel Adams, the bittersweet nostalgia expressed by Wright Morris, or the ubiquitous, scarring hand of man found in the work of Robert Adams. -- All of the works shown are from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library.

CAI copy included in Library exhibition titled "A Photographic Look at the New American West" held February 27 - May 21, 2008

Item exhibited open (pp. 56-57)

Exhibition webpage: http://www.clarkart.edu/museum_programs/exhibitions_past_detail.cfm?EID=65

Adams, Robert, 1937-

Millerton, N.Y. : Aperture ; [New York, N.Y.] : Distributed by Harper & Row, c1980

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Library

63 p. : chiefly ill. ; 25 x 29 cm

eng

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NE2698 A216f