Ansel Adams

mounted, signed in pencil on the mount, the photographer's San Francisco studio label (BMFA 4), titled in ink, on the reverse, circa 1929, printed in the late 1930s

Gift of the photographer to a private collector, Oakland, California, late 1930s

Sotheby's New York, 17 April 2002, Sale 7777, Lot 24

Collection of Margaret W. Weston

Sotheby's New York, Photographs from the Private Collection of Margaret W. Weston, 25 April 2007, Sale 8387, Lot 11

Galerie Zur Stockeregg: Thirty Years, 1979-2009 (Zurich, 2009), pl. 19 (this print)

Andrea G. Stillman, ed., Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs (New York, 2007), p. 48

John Szarkowski, Ansel Adams at 100 (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2001), pl. 47

This rich, early print, on double-weight paper with a lustrous sheen and mounted on a smooth gray mount, is in generally excellent condition. The mount exhibits barely perceptible scattered foxing on the recto, and more noticeable, but still faint, is foxing on the reverse of the mount. Karen Haas's and Rebecca Senf's book, 'Ansel Adams in the Lane Collection,' publishes the most comprehensive list to date of the studio stamps and labels Adams used throughout his career. Our dating of this print is based upon the authors' assessment of the use dates of Label 4 on the reverse of this print: 1936 through 1944. This print was given by Adams to the original owner in the later 1930s.
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.

The photograph offered here was given originally by Adams to a close friend of the Curry family, whose Yosemite Park and Curry Company was the primary concessionaire in Yosemite National Park for 70 years.  It was among a group of 32 early Ansel Adams photographs offered in these rooms on 17 April 2002 (Sale 7777, Lots 14-39).  This unusual group, a trove of significant early Adams images in superb condition, established a new benchmark for early prints by Ansel Adams at auction. 

It is believed that most of the photographs in the group were printed in the late 1930s. Winter - Yosemite is printed on lustrous double-weight paper and mounted on white Bristol board, which has a slick white clay or baryta coating on its front and a matte surface on the reverse.  The label is one designed by Lawton Kennedy for Adams's 1936 exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz's American Place gallery in New York.

This print was in gallerist Maggi Weston's collection and was sold in these rooms on  25 April 2007.  From her earliest days as a gallery director, she was drawn not only to Ansel Adams's well-known images, but also to his earliest—and lesser-known—work.  Usually small in format, perhaps in ways more subtle, and above all scarce, these early prints convey a different side of the photographer (see also Lots 2 and 11).