Ansel Adams

The Estate of the photographer to The Friends of Photography, Carmel, 1984

Acquired from the above, 2002

Barn, Cape Cod:

Liliane de Cock, ed., Ansel Adams (Hastings-on-Hudson, 1972), pl. 24

James Alinder and John Szarkowski, Ansel Adams: Classic Images (Boston, 1985), fig. 21

Andrea Gray Stillman, ed., Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs (Boston, 2007), p. 263

Mrs. Gunn on Porch, Independence, California:

Liliane de Cock, ed., Ansel Adams (Hastings-on-Hudson, 1972), pl. 87

John Szarkowski, The Portfolios of Ansel Adams (New York and Boston, 1977), p. 88

Barn, Cape Cod:

Shanghai, Shanghai Gallery, People’s Exhibition Hall, Ansel Adams: Photographer, February 1983; and traveling thereafter to: Beijing, National Museum of Art, March 1983; Tokyo, Odakyu Store Art Gallery, June 1983; Hong Kong Arts Centre, July – August 1983; San Diego, Museum of Photographic Arts, June - August 1984; Haifa, Museum of Modern Art, May – August 1987

San Francisco, Ansel Adams Center, Ansel Adams, a Legacy: Masterworks from the Friends of Photography Collection, March – June, 1997, and traveling thereafter to: Louisville, Kentucky, J. B. Speed Museum, September – November 1998; Fort Wayne, Indiana, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, December 1998 – February 1999; Japan, Nihombashi, Mitsukoshi Department Store Gallery, March, 1999; Japan, Ehime Prefecture Museum, June – July 1999; Japan, Toyama Prefecture, Tonami City Museum, July – August 1999; Japan, Hokkaido, Kushiro Art Museum, September – October 1999; Japan, Kawasaki City Museum, October – December 1999; Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, May – August 2000

Billings, Montana, Yellowstone Art Museum, Ansel Adams: a Legacy, October 2002 – January 2003 and traveling thereafter to: University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center, Ansel Adams: a Legacy, August 2005 – January 2006; Loretta and Ligonier, Pennsylvania, The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, March – November 2006; Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Institute of Art, May – August 2007; Tucson Museum of Art, October 2009 – February 2010; Missoula, Montana, Missoula Art Museum, October 2011 – April 2012; Helena, Montana, The Holter Museum of Art, January – April 2013; Charlottesville, Virginia, University of Virginia, The Fralin Museum of Art, June – October 2013

Mrs. Gunn on Porch, Independence, California:

Shanghai, Shanghai Gallery, People’s Exhibition Hall, Ansel Adams: Photographer, February 1983, and traveling thereafter to: Beijing, National Museum of Art, March 1983; Tokyo, Odakyu Store Art Gallery, June 1983; Hong Kong Arts Centre, July – August 1983; Haifa, Museum of Modern Art, May – August 1987

San Francisco, Ansel Adams Center, Ansel Adams: Portraits, November 1992 – February 1993

San Francisco, Ansel Adams Center, Ansel Adams, a Legacy: Masterworks from the Friends of Photography Collection, March – June, 1997, and traveling thereafter to: Japan, Nihombashi, Mitsukoshi Department Store Gallery, March, 1999; Japan, Ehime Prefecture Museum, June – July 1999; Japan, Toyama Prefecture, Tonami City Museum, July – August 1999; Japan, Hokkaido, Kushiro Art Museum, September – October 1999; Japan, Kawasaki City Museum, October – December 1999

Billings, Montana, Yellowstone Art Museum, Ansel Adams: a Legacy, October 2002 – January 2003 and traveling thereafter to: University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center, Ansel Adams: a Legacy, August 2005 – January 2006; Loretta and Ligonier, Pennsylvania, The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, March – November 2006; Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Institute of Art, May – August 2007; Missoula, Montana, Missoula Art Museum, October 2011 – April 2012; Helena, Montana, The Holter Museum of Art, January – April 2013; Charlottesville, Virginia, University of Virginia, The Fralin Museum of Art, June – October 2013

The woman pictured here is Elizabeth Gunn, the same sitter as Woman Behind Screen Door, Independence, which was included in Portfolio V, published in 1979.

Rural architecture frequently appears in Sheeler’s work, wherein the vernacular buildings are distilled into overlapping geometric planes of color.  Adams adopted this pared-down aesthetic into his own work more than once when photographing architectural forms.

An affectionate postcard written by Ansel Adams to Sheeler in 1957 (now in the collection of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art), implores him to create more photographs, addressing him as “THE EMINENT, THE IMMINENT, THE IRRIDESCENT … THE MAGNIFICENT, AND THE EVERLASTING CHARLES SHEELER.” 

Another print of this image was featured in an early exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1944.