A Grand Vision: The David H. Arrington Collection of Ansel Adams Photographs
A Grand Vision: The David H. Arrington Collection of Ansel Adams Photographs
Ansel Adams
'Ascent of the "Lost Arrow," Yosemite Valley'
Auction Closed
February 17, 07:14 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Ansel Adams
1902 - 1984
'Ascent of the "Lost Arrow," Yosemite Valley'
gelatin silver print, mounted, signed in pencil on the mount, signed, titled, and annotated 'Climbers: John Salathé / Anton Nelson' in ink on the reverse, framed, 1947
image: 12⅞ by 10⅜ in. (32.7 by 26.4 cm.)
frame: 24⅞ by 20⅞ in. (63.2 by 53 cm.)
Phillips de Pury & Company New York, 19 October 2006, Sale 40206, Lot 117, Andrew Smith Gallery, Santa Fe, as agent
Taken in September 1947, Adams photographed John Salathé and Anton ‘Ax’ Nelson as they made history as the first climbers to summit the Lost Arrow Spire in Yosemite. Nelson detailed the arduous five-day climb in the 1948 Sierra Club Bulletin, writing ‘One cannot climb at all unless he has sufficient urge to do so. Danger must be met – indeed it must be used – to an extent beyond that incurred in normal life.’ Salathé’s “Lost Arrows,” hard steel pitons, are still used by climbers today.
Another early print of this image is in the Ansel Adams archive at the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona.