Ansel Adams

mounted to Bristol board, signed and dated '1942' by the photographer in pencil on the mount, matted, 1941, printed circa 1946

The photographer to a friend, circa 1946

By descent to the present owner

Other prints of this image:

Karen E. Haas and Rebecca A. Senf, Ansel Adams in the Lane Collection (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2005, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 37

Ansel Adams (Morgan & Morgan, 1972), pl. 63

Ansel Adams, Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs (Boston, 2002), p. 40

John Szarkowski, Ansel Adams at 100 (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2001, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 96

Andrea Gray Stillman, ed., Ansel Adams: The Grand Canyon and the Southwest (Boston, 2000), frontispiece

James Alinder and John Szarkowski, Ansel Adams: Classic Images (Boston, 1985), pl. 32

Andrea Gray Stillman, Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs (New York, 2007), p. 175

This beautiful early print is on paper with a semi-glossy surface. It shows a great deal of detail in the sky area, with wispy clouds visible throughout that are not apparent in later, more contrasty prints of the image. The print's lustrous gloss may be due to the application of a clear colorless varnish or wax – a common practice for Adams at the time. An old indentation in the surface of the print, about 4-inches to the left of the moon, has been expertly repaired. It is now visible primarily when the print is viewed closely in raking light. A treatment report is available upon request. In raking light, some very minor small indentations can be seen in the surface, but only upon close and prolonged examination. These do not break the emulsion. In raking light, an unevenness in the surface gloss can be seen along the roof of the left-most adobe structure. None of these issues detracts from the overall excellent appearance of this stunning print. The print is mounted to a large sheet of cream-colored Strathmore board measuring 23 by 29 inches. The board has survived in near-excellent condition. It is somewhat age-darkened at the extremities – most noticeably on the right edge.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This bravura early print of Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico—Adams's most celebrated image—was acquired from the photographer by a friend in the 1940s, perhaps as early as 1946.  On January 3^rd of that year, Adams sent his friend a letter stating that 'The Moonrise will come along soon.'  Adams is believed to have made only 4 other prints of Moonrise before 1948, when he reprocessed the negative.  The image was exceedingly difficult to print, and Adams was willing to toil with it in the darkroom on only a few occasions.  If Adams delivered this Moonrise in 1946, or shortly thereafter, it is one of the very few extant prints of the image realized before 1948.   

Adams made the 8-by-10-inch negative for Moonrise in the late afternoon of November 1, 1941, while photographing in the Southwest on behalf of the U. S. Department of the Interior and the U. S. Potash Company of New Mexico.  Driving back to their motel after an unproductive day of photographing, Adams and his companions—son Michael and fellow photographer Cedric Wright—passed the tiny town of Hernandez.  Struck by the quality of light upon the town and its cemetery, Adams immediately pulled the car over to the side of the road and hastily assembled his equipment.  Drawing upon his vast reservoir of photographic expertise, Adams made his exposure in the dying light without the benefit of his light meter.  Before he had the chance to make a second exposure, the sun sank behind a bank of clouds, and the light changed completely.  A full account of the taking of Moonrise, and its subsequent printing history, appears in Mary Street Alinder's Ansel Adams: A Biography (New York, 1996).  

The resulting negative, made quickly and under trying conditions, proved difficult to print.  In order to make a print from it that met his high standards, Adams had to spend a great deal of time and energy in the darkroom coaxing the image through the printing process.  Because of this, Adams made only a few prints of the image in the early 1940s.  One was made for his friend Beaumont Newhall, Curator of Photography at The Museum of Modern Art.  This print, now in MoMA's collection, was used by Edward Steichen for reproduction in the 1943 U. S. Camera Annual.  Much handled over the years, the print is visibly worn.  Adams also made a print of the negative at David McAlpin's request, and this is now in the collection of Princeton University Art Museum.  It is believed that there are two other early prints in private collections. 

Based upon the evidence of Adams's 1946 letter to the original owner, it is very likely that the print offered here is among the small group Adams made prior to late 1948.  In December of that year, due to increasing print orders for Moonrise, Adams took the radical step of reprocessing the negative to make it easier to print from.  After re-fixing and washing the negative, Adams submerged it up to the horizon line in Kodak IN-5 intensifier.  This increased the density in the foreground, making it comparatively easier to print.  After that point, Adams was able to fulfill print orders for the image, and in the following decades Moonrise became his most requested photograph.

The original recipient of this print was an amateur photographer and resident of the San Francisco Bay Area.  A long-time member of the California Camera Club, he and his wife spent their summers in Yosemite National Park, and it was there that he first encountered and became friends with Adams.  In the 1940s, Adams made a number of portraits of the owner and his family members.  Aside from Moonrise, the owner acquired several other photographs from Adams, as well as a number of Adams's books, all warmly inscribed by the photographer. 

The extant prints of Ansel Adams's iconic image, Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, offer the best tool for understanding the photographer's evolving printing technique. The appearance of a previously unknown early print of the image, such as the photograph offered here, provides an opportunity to see Adams's rendering of the image only a number of years after he made the negative.  Whereas later prints of Moonrise depend for their impact upon stark contrasts—between the black sky and the white headstones, for instance—this print presents a very different interpretation of the image.  This early print depicts a twilight scene, as opposed to the stark night-time appearance of Adams's later prints.  In this print, the landscape and buildings are bathed by the last rays of the setting winter-time sun.  Like all of Adams's prints of Moonrise, this print fulfills the requirements of Adams's Zone System technique, encompassing tones that range from the deepest black to the brightest white.  Much of this print's information, however, is delivered in the gray mid-tones.  The openness of the tonality in the sky – and the cloud detail visible there – is one of the chief differences between this print and later ones.