Boulder County, Colorado
1980
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
overall: 37.8 x 47.3 cm (14 7/8 x 18 5/8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of the Collectors Committee
Accession Number
1996.109.1
Art Historical Context
Robert Adams's *Boulder County, Colorado* (1980) is a striking gelatin silver print capturing the subtle interplay between natural beauty and human presence in the American West. Measuring 37.8 x 47.3 cm, this black-and-white photograph exemplifies Adams's mastery of the medium, prized for its rich tonal gradations and archival stability, which allow intricate details—from rugged terrain to distant structures—to emerge with quiet precision. As a key figure in the New Topographics movement of the 1970s and 1980s, Adams documented the transformation of pristine landscapes by suburban developmen...
About the Artist
Robert Adams · 1900–1900
Robert Adams, born Robert Hickman Adams on May 8, 1937, in Orange, New Jersey, grew up amid frequent relocations that shaped his deep affinity for the American landscape—from New Jersey to Madison, Wisconsin, and finally to Wheat Ridge, Colorado, in 1952.) Contracting polio at age 12, he recovered but retained a sensitivity to the environment that fueled his later work. After earning a B.A. in Eng...