Manly Beacon, Death Valley National Monument, California
c. 1952, printed 1981
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
overall: 49.1 x 39.4 cm (19 5/16 x 15 1/2 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Virginia B. Adams
Accession Number
1986.3.69
Art Historical Context
Ansel Adams captured *Manly Beacon, Death Valley National Monument, California* around 1952, offering a timeless view of one of the American West’s most dramatic landscapes. As a leading figure in 20th-century photography, Adams was renowned for his majestic black-and-white images that celebrated the grandeur of the natural world. This gelatin silver print, made in 1981, exemplifies his lifelong commitment to portraying the untouched beauty of national and monuments, inviting viewers to appreciate the stark, sculptural forms of the desert terrain. The gelatin silver process allowed Adams to a...
About the Artist
Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams, born on February 20, 1902, in San Francisco, California, grew up as the only child of Charles Hitchcock Adams, a businessman and astronomy enthusiast who tutored him at home, and Olive Bray, with whom he had a distant relationship. A hyperactive child prone to illness, Adams struggled in formal schooling and was educated by private tutors and his father until graduating from eighth gr...