1½  col Manly Beacon…

Ansel Adams, “Manly Beacon, Death Valley National Monument, California,” 1948. ©2006 The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.

1½  col Moon and Half..

Ansel Adams, “Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California,” 1960.  ©2006 The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.

FOR 3-16

‘ANSEL ADAMS AND EDWIN LAND’ AT HECKSCHER MUSEUM MARCH 31 w/2 cuts

avv/gs set 2-22 #689375

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. — “Ansel Adams and Edwin Land: Art, Science and Invention Photographs from the Polaroid Collection” will be on view March 31–June 25 at the Heckscher Museum of Art.

Adams’s photographs are among the best known images in the world, widely recognized for their aesthetic and technical qualities. His black and white landscapes have been widely reproduced in various formats.

According to exhibit curators Linda Benedict-Jones and Barbara Hitchcock, “One of Adams’s greatest gifts — and indeed his gift to photography — was his singular sensitivity to the power of light. This quality allowed the artist to reveal both the minute details and the grandiose beauty of our natural environment.”

The exhibition features approximately 80 photos — including vintage enlargements of Adams’s famed “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico,” 1940, and “Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park,” 1960. Viewers additionally will see one-of-a-kind Polaroid black and white prints, correspondence, and a rare example of the artist’s early commercial work.

“The Heckscher Museum’s important permanent collection is particularly strong in modern American art,” said Dr Kenneth Wayne, chief curator. “The museum is currently developing its photography holdings and is planning to present more photography exhibitions. With these elements in mind, this exhibition of works by one of America’s greatest photographers has special appeal.”

The exhibition explores the artist’s key involvement with the historical development of Polaroid film, invented by Edwin Land, founder of Polaroid Corporation, in 1940. In 1948, Adams became a consultant to Land, for whom he rigorously tested new films and products. In working with Land, Adams experimented with the technical and creative potential of this instant medium, and helped to usher in a new era in photography that changed and influenced the process of the medium.

In his autobiography published posthumously in 1985, Adams reflected on his 1968 photography of “El Capitan” and on his collaboration with Land, writing: “Many of my most successful photographs from the 1950s onward have been made on Polaroid film. One look at the tonal quality of the print I have achieved should convince the uninitiated of the truly superior quality of Polaroid film.”

Adams was born in San Francisco and first became involved with photography at age 14 when his parents gave him a Kodak Box Brownie camera for a summer vacation in Yosemite National Park.

He subsequently worked part-time in the photo-finishing business; and then, from 1920 to 1927, was custodian of the Sierra Club’s headquarters in Yosemite. This position offered him the opportunity to photograph his majestic environs at length.

Besides his own artistic contributions, Adams played an integral role in the acceptance of photography as a fine art. In 1940, the artist helped found the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art. Six years later, he started in the photography department at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Adams also influenced Land to collect prints from other photographers, such as Edward Weston, Margaret Bourke-White, Imogen Cunningham and other giants in the field of creative photography. These images formed the core of what would later become the renowned Polaroid Collection.

The Museum is in Heckscher Park, Main Street (Route 25A) and Prime Avenue. For information, 631-351-3250 or www.heckscher.org.