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Photography exhibition displays a rare folio of Ansel Adams’ prints

ABILENE, Texas (April 13, 2010) – A rare album of photographs by foremost American landscape photographer Ansel Adams is now on view in the Alice and Bill Wright Photography Gallery at The Grace Museum, April 13 through July 10, in the exhibition Yosemite 1938: On the Trail with Ansel Adams and Georgia O’Keeffe.

The rarely seen folio, made by Adams for his friend David McAlpin, documents a September 1938 excursion to Yosemite National Park with Adams, McAlpin, Helen and Godfrey Rockefeller, and Georgia O’Keeffe. His companions for that historic camping trip included one of the most important painters of the 20th Century and some of the most important philanthropists as well. Adams cataloged the trip with landscape photographs of key locations along the route through the High Sierra and included remarkable portraits of his camping companions and the outfitters who guided their trip.

Adams’ companions were some of the main figures in the history of photography as an art form. Helen and Godfrey Rockefeller were both major collectors of fine art photography; Adams is widely considered the most significant 20th Century American landscape photographer; Georgia O’Keeffe is known as a major American painter in her own right, and also as the subject of the photographic portraits taken by her husband and famous photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

Yosemite 1938 contains 48 original black and white silver gelatin prints created by Adams from the trip as a gift to McAlpin. The photographs come to The Grace on loan from the collection of the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming. On Friday, April 30, The Grace Museum will host a special public reception for the exhibition from 5 to 7 p.m.

In addition, the exhibition offers a unique opportunity for a collaboration of visual and performing arts focused on the photographic art of Ansel Adams and the music of Dave and Chris Brubeck, three American art legends. Three major Abilene cultural institutions—The Grace Museum, the Abilene Philharmonic, and the Center for Contemporary Arts—will partner in a special Artfully Abilene Arts and Culture Weekend. Friday, April 30, The Grace hosts the reception for Yosemite 1938. Saturday, May 1, The Abilene Philharmonic presents the Texas premiere of Ansel Adams: America, composed by Dave Brubeck and his son Chris. This premiere brings together the musical artistry of the Brubecks and the landscape photography of Ansel Adams. The Center for Contemporary Arts will host a special reception with Chris Brubeck after the musical premiere.

The Grace Museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums, and houses a children’s museum, history museum, and art museum. At 55,000 square feet, The Grace Museum is the tenth largest general museum in Texas, and is the cornerstone of cultural arts and education in West Texas. The museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Grace Museum is a non-profit organization, and the museum’s exhibitions and educational programs are supported in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Abilene Cultural Affairs Council, the City of Abilene, Taylor County, and the Downtown Revitalization Program of the Tax Increment Finance District.

The Grace Museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Thursday. Admission is free Thursday evening after 5 p.m.