Looking toward the mountains in smog, Weld County, Colorado
1983
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 37.8 × 47 cm (14 7/8 × 18 1/2 in.) sheet: 40.6 × 50.8 cm (16 × 20 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Robert and Kerstin Adams
Accession Number
2022.11.1
Art Historical Context
Robert Adams' *Looking toward the Mountains in, Weld County, Colorado (1983) is a striking gelatin silver print that captures a hazy vista where the majestic Rocky Mountain peaks fade into an industrial veil. Measuring 37.8 × 47 cm (image), this black-and-white photograph employs the medium's rich tonal range to evoke a sense of quiet unease, highlighting the tension between natural grandeur and human encroachment. Adams, a pioneering American photographer, masterfully uses subtle gradations of gray to render the smog's oppressive atmosphere, drawing viewers into a moment of obscured beauty. ...
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...