Ansel Adams

He felt colour could be distracting, and could therefore divert an artist’s attention from the achievement of his full potential when taking a photograph.

Ansel Adams was a landscape photographer, best known for his black and white photos of American West, he helped found and associate photographers advocating “pure” photography. His visionary belief in the redemptive beauty of wilderness was expressed in grand images that have popularized art photography among the American public. Adams liked to make his photos black and white as he felt colour could be distracting, and could therefore divert an artist’s attention from the achievement of his full potential when taking a photograph. Adams liked to manipulate his photos with dark room to make them more mysterious. However, he started taking pictures in colour for the same amount of time he took photos in black and white.

things that inspired Ansel Adams were because of his struggles due to his Natural shyness and a certain intensity of genius, coupled with the dramatically “earth quaked” nose, this caused Adams to have problems fitting in at school. In later life he noted that he might have been diagnosed as hyperactive. There is also the distinct possibility that he may have suffered from dyslexia. When he was younger he thought he was different from everyone else when In reality these struggles formed his own views and how he sees certain thing such as how he can make landscape photos looks so elegant and show so much detail and history.

Adams taught himself how to read music and play the piano, and it seemed destined to be his career. But while he dedicated himself to mastering the instrument, from 1916 onwards he also began to visit Yosemite National Park every summer. This lead him to taking a lot of his pictures in Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada which helped to emphasis the natural beauty of land. From my research it made it clear that Adams stopped playing the piano as he didn’t have enough skills to become professional and therefore created a career in photography.

How Ansel Adams images link with Romanticism / Sublime

What/Who did Ansel Adams inspire?

One of the most important legacies of Ansel Adams was that his work contributed to the American Conservation Movement. Between 1850 and 1920, American conservationists invented the idea of the national park and developed the national park system, establishing an international model for the preservation of natural beauty and wilderness. Personally I believe Ansel Adams would have inspired people who struggled in school and felt like they didn’t fit in, the people who believed that they didn’t have place in earth that didn’t have anyone to talk to. Ansel Adams being brave and strong helped him go for what he wanted, he didn’t let any of his problems stop him, however it is heard that he did stop playing music due to the fact that he fell and had an accident during an earth quake when he as younger, he believed his disfigured face would look nice to have, and having to do shows and be an artists didn’t sound reassuring. Ansel Adams therefore used photography as a way of bringing himself up, he used landscape photo of the world and what he liked the best, he liked taking pictures of Yosemite as it was in his home country and this clearly reflects that he has a strong passion towards his history and where he came from, he isn’t ashamed of what he has become but of what he looks like which can be a big problem to many people and Ansel Adams proving that he got on with his life despite his accident shows how powerful you can be if you put your mind to it.

John constable, born 11th of June 1776 was an English landscape painter in the romantic tradition. He was known for his paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home.

Constable was one of the first artists of the Romantic movement to create landscape paintings drawn directly from nature rather than the idealised and dramatic depictions favoured by other artists of the period and in taking this stance he pioneered Naturalism in Britain.

Examples of his work –

Overall these photos show the natural beauty of the world and all the nature within it capturing the trees and a variety of landscapes to show how beautiful the natural world could be.

He painted photos that had a lot of meaning to him, he did not grow up wealthy so he often painted his home and the land he lived on. Because of the poverty he grew up around and lived around, he wanted to show that there was beauty anywhere through the nature and the world we live on.

He wanted to focus on nature because during this time period, the industrial revolution was a big era and he wanted to steer away from this thought of everything manmade and wanted to bring light on the natural life.

Landscape – All the visible features of an area of land, landscape photography typically captures the presence of nature but can also focus on human-made features or disturbances.

Timeline of Landscape Photography

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When did landscape photography originate?

Landscape photography originated between the years of 1826 and 1827, with a photograph which was taken by a French inventor named Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1765-1833). This photograph, called “View from the Window at Le Gras”, was captured using a heliography process.

When did landscape emerge as a genre?

The tradition of depicting landscapes declined after the fall of the Roman Empire, and was viewed as a setting for religious and figural scenes only. However, during the Renaissance period in the 16th century, Landscape emerged as a genre in Western culture, where artists began viewing landscapes in their own right.

In a classical landscape, the positioning of an object was deliberate in order to create a harmonious and balanced composition. Classical landscapes emerged as a genre in the 17th century. A leading painter of the style of classical landscapes was Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), a French painter who began painting landscapes in the late 1630s.

What prompted the rise of Landscape art during the late 18/19th century?

Landscape painting eventually gained prominence in the late 18th/19th century with the rise of Romanticism. Landscapes provided inspiration for the Romantics in literature, music, and art. Often regarded as a precursor of Romanticism, Thomas Gainsborough is a painter whose landscapes are regarded as “moody” in atmosphere, and they shift the focus from the objective record of the world to the subjective feelings of the artist.

What is Romanticism?

Romanticism was a particular movement or era in art that occurred towards the end of the 18th century during the first half of the 19th century. Romanticism often aimed to put much emphasis on emotion and individualism. The early period of the Romantic era was a time of war, with the French Revolution (1789–1799) followed by the Napoleonic Wars until 1815. There was the fall of the monarchy and a change in society. It was also the time of the industrial revolution where more things were making there way into more factories. enlightenment was another movement known as the age of reason which was a more reasonable and sensible movement in contrast to the movement of Romanticism.

There are many characteristics of Romanticism, painters and photographers took a very large amount of their inspiration from natural aspects of the world and not usually human-made. Many paintings/ photographs have a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature.  Overall, the characteristics include a focus on individualism, an emphasis on nature, emotion over reason, freedom of form, an exploration of the Gothic and unknown, a return to the past, the awe and wonder, the idealization of women, the purity of childhood, and the search for subjective truth.

Many photos focus on tranquillity like a photo of a sunset or calm seas. As well as this, photos that focus on dramatic and dangerous conditions such as a stormy sky or rough seas are also very popular when it comes to romanticism.

What is the sublime?

The sublime can overall be described as a quality of greatness or grandeur that inspires awe and wonder. The sublime is a meeting of the emotional and the natural world. Nowadays, the word is used as an ordinary term like a ‘sublime’ evening but when you focus on the historical facts and meanings, you find a deeper use of the word pointing to the heights of something truly extraordinary. The sublime has been described as many things, but in a sum up of the meanings, people have mostly described it as a judgement, a feeling, a state of mind and a kind of response to art or nature. when the word Sublime is split into two, ‘sub’ is commonly described as below or up to and ‘limen’ meaning limit, boundary or threshold. ‘limen’ can also be seen as another word for the word ‘lintel’ which means he heavy wooden or stone beam that holds the weight of a wall up above a doorway or a window. the impression of pushing upwards against a strong force is an important connotation for the word sublime and commonly used in descriptions in things such as essays.

It was especially important in eighteenth-century Britain, mainly because of the increasing importance of landscape as a subject category for artists. Edmund Burke was not the first to speak of the sublime but he is well known for his descriptions and understanding. he split the idea of the sublime into 7 parts:

Darkness – which constrains the sense of sight (primary among the five senses)
Obscurity – which confuses judgement
Privation (or deprivation) – since pain is more powerful than pleasure
Vastness – which is beyond comprehension
Magnificence – in the face of which we are in awe
Loudness – which overwhelms us
Suddenness – which shocks our sensibilities to the point of disablement

[The sublime, declared Burke, was “the strongest passion,” and he belittled the importance of the beautiful, claiming that it was merely an instance of prettiness.]

Romanticism is an artistic and intellectual movement which originated in Europe. Artists have been painting the landscape since ancient times. Wall paintings of landscapes were also created by the Greeks and the Romans. After the Roman Empire, people temporarily stopped appreciating pure landscapes and the landscapes were seen only as a setting for religion. This carried on until around the 16th century, then artists began to truly appreciate landscape as an important subject. Landscape first became popular in The Netherlands and people began to use it for painting, this worked perfectly for middle class protestants seeking art for their homes and wanting unique pieces of artwork.

The ideals of the French Revolution created the context from which romanticism began. It was a ‘revolt’ against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment or the ‘age of reason’ and a reaction against the scientific rationalisation of nature.

Portraits and paintings began to be used to signify history painting, classical and religious themes. This carried on through to the 17th century where these paintings were mostly used to display biblical or historical scenes.

Romanticism Moodboard.

When did Romanticism come about?

Romanticism originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. 

What are some of the Characteristics of Romanticism?

A deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation of emotion over reason and of the senses over intellect; a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities.

Main characteristics include:

• Emotion and passion
• Critique of progress
• An awe of nature
• A return to the past
• The idealisation of women
• The purity of childhood
• The search for subjective truth
• Celebration of the individual

DIANA DEBORD.

Diana Debord is a fine art photographer who is originally from Italy. In her words she says,  “I like to create images that merge decadent romanticism with dreamlike atmospheres, drawing inspiration from dreams or nightmares, paintings and books. I like to pack my photos with vivid colours, symbols and natural elements, just like dreamscapes captured by my camera.” Diana particularly likes to merge pictures of ‘decadent romanticism’ with ‘dreamlike atmospheres’, she will then consider colours and composition as amazing creative tools. I think that her attempt to rebel towards the greyness of modern life and capture the magic of everyday life displays her relation to romanticism and the sublime the most.

The Sublime.

The sublime can be summed up as a combination of the internal/emotional and the external/natural world. It explores how humans allow our emotions to overwhelm our rationality as we experience the wonder of creation. It can also be described as the quality of greatness such as…

• Physical

• Moral

• Intellectual

• Metaphysical

• Aesthetic

• spiritual

• Artistic

The term especially refers to a ‘greatness beyond all possibility’ of calculation, measurement, or imitation.

What is the difference between Bucolic and pastoral?

Bucolic often refers to the pleasant aspects of country life and its nature. Pastoral is similarly defined, positively as the working elements of country.

The Sublime Moodboard.

Edmund Burke.

What did Edmund Burke Think was the Ruling Principle of the Sublime?

Whatever therefore is terrible, with regard to sight, is sublime too … Indeed terror is in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or latently, the ruling principle of the sublime. Burke was interested in what happens to the self when assailed by that which seems to endanger its survival.

Edmund Burke published 1757 which is a treatise of aesthetics called A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful.  He asserts that ideas of pain are much more powerful than those of pleasure, and that the strongest pain of all is the fear of death, which causes terror.

Edmund Burke declared the sublime as “the strongest passion,” and he belittled the importance of the beautiful, claiming that it was merely an instance of prettiness.

“Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling.”

“The passion caused by the great and the sublime in nature, when those causes operate most powerfully, is Astonishment; and astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror.”

Industrialisation.

Romanticism is tied into the the subject of capitalist industrialisation, as the ‘active radical culture of the artisans’, weavers and spinners ‘made’ them into a class simultaneously to being ‘made’ a proletariat by the processes of economic change. English Romantic intellectuals and artists felt that the modern industrial world was harsh and deadening to the senses and spirit.

Source – Romanticism and the industrial revolution in Britain: History of European Ideas: Vol 12 , No 5 – Get Access (tandfonline.com)

What is social Commentary?

Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace about a given problem and appealing to people’s sense of justice. It can incorporate protesting the oppressive consequences of capitalism, the moral decline of the middle class, or the melancholy and alienation of the individual at odds with society.

Joe Cornish

Joe Cornish, who was born Exeter was an adopted child who moved to North Yorkshire, this is where he studied fine art and reading and where his photography interest began to grow.
Joe believes that knowing his location extremely important when photographing. He has travelled to places such as:

• The Arctic and Antarctic regions
• Africa
• New Zealand
• Italy
• Spain
• America
• Russia

Joe mostly takes his inspiration from the painters…

• El Greco

• Paul Cezanne

• John Constable

Joe’s images also have a very bright, dramatic and colourful vibe, which I think really conveys the idea of ‘the sublime’ and creates a sense of belonging and wonder.

1. What does Landscape mean?

A landscape is a part of the earth that is captured in a singular photo. It consists of the geographic features that mark, or are characteristic of, a particular area. Landscape photography commonly involves daylight photography of natural features of land, sky and waters, at a distance. The word Landscape originated from the Dutch word landschap which was a name given to photos of a countryside. The word and technique was borrowed from artists, famous Dutch landscape painters include Jacob van Ruisdael and Vincent van Gogh. It is highly typical for landscape photos to involve naturalistic aspects such as natural mountains, rivers, fields etc. However, photographing human-made features can also be accepted as landscape photos. Landscape photos are very commonly taken in a non-human activity environment and therefore the photographer can devote their full focus so the scenery and not the people that could be involved. As well as art, the definition of a landscape photograph is broad and may include rural or urban settings, industrial areas or nature photography.

2. When did landscape emerge as a genre in western culture?

landscapes emerged as a genre in western culture during The Renaissance. Renaissance is a French word meaning “rebirth.” This event marked the time where people began to move away from medieval ways to more modern times. it was a period of time where people began to appreciate art, modern science and literature more. This is where landscapes emerged in the 16th century. Renaissance art had much more detail than medieval art. for example, Portraits of the Renaissance era depicted bright colours, shading, and realistic features of the subject being painted. The background was often plain because Renaissance artists wanted their subjects to be the focus. During the 1300s, artists began to appreciate the natural aspects of a painting and the surroundings of whoever their subject was.

3. when did classical landscapes emerge as a genre

In the 17th century, Landscapes gained popularity and attention of many people and artists. The classical landscape was ideally seen in scenes in the mythic and idyllic Arcadia of ancient Greece. The leading practitioners of the genre classical landscapes were the French-born-Italy- based artists called Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain. both artists spent their time in Rome drawing landscapes of the Roman countryside and Italy was the most common place for things like these because of the beauty of the country and unique sights. Into the 18th century, Italy kept its popularity for classical landscapes but the new centre focus was brought onto France and England

4. What prompted the rise of landscape art during the late 18th/19th century?

Landscape artists of the 19th century embraced the thought of romantic movements within art and aimed to infuse their work with drama and passion. The 19th century was a time where landscape art had gained much more attention and was beginning to be seen as a go to piece of art technique. In England two of the foremost landscape painters were John Constable and J.M.W Turner. Landscape painting gained prominence in the late 18th century with the rise of Romanticism. Romanticism was a particular movement or era in art that occurred towards the end of the 18th century during the first half of the 19th century. Romanticism often aimed to put much emphasis on emotion and individualism. Characteristics include a focus on individualism, an emphasis on nature, emotion over reason, freedom of form, an exploration of the Gothic and unknown, a return to the past, the awe and wonder, the idealization of women, the purity of childhood, and the search for subjective truth.

5. When did landscape photography originate?

The earliest evidence of a landscape photograph was taken between the years of 1826 and 1827. It was an urban landscape photo taken by a French inventor by the name of Nicephorus Niepce. This photograph took him 8 hours so it was sensible that he didn’t take a moving photograph. Due to landscapes already being a very famous and popular artistic technique, it was no surprise that landscapes also made its way into photograph once the uses of photographs were invented and gained their own popularity. Early photographers seemed to decide that landscapes made the perfect subject because they were static and so the danger of the subject moving was minimal.

Landscape photography commonly involves daylight photography of natural features of land, sky and waters, at a distance. This can also include man made features. Landscape photography may include photos of artificial scenery, such as fields, orchids, gardens and architecture and human-made structures such as buildings, roads bridges etc. Landscape photography is capturing an image that embodies the spirit of the outdoors. It carries a sense of being to see something wonderful for the viewers.

When did landscape emerge as a genre?

Landscape emerged earlier in western culture, as it came about during the Renaissance period in the 16th century, an era towards a more modern, art appreciating society. Landscapes were seen as a part of earths surface that can be viewed at one time from one place. However, classical landscapes only emerged as a genre in the 17th century. Classical landscapes were influenced by classical antiquity, and wanted to illustrate an ideal landscape recalling Arcadia, which is a legendary place in Greece known for its peaceful and quiet tone.

What prompted the rise of Landscape art during the late 18/19th century?

Landscape painting eventually gained prominence in the late 18th century with the rise of romanticism and often carried a religious significance. It also became a method of self-expression with the emotions of the painter and their appreciation of nature demonstrated in the painting. The interest in landscapes grew during this time, because it was during the Renaissance period, which is when factories were constantly being built, so the interest in landscapes grew, because of the lack of them and how they began slowly disappearing.

When did landscape photography originate?

The first Landscape painting came before the first landscape photo, because landscape paintings became popular earlier the the landscape photos, in the late 18th centaury. However, the first landscape painting was painted by Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer, Fra Bartolomeo at the end of the 15th period.

Landscape photography originated between 1826 and 1827 and the first landscape photo was taken by a French inventor named Nicephore Niepce. He took a landscape photo of snowy mountains.

Definition

Landscapes are all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.

Mood board

Mind Map

Who is Ansel Adams?

Ansel Adams was an incredible American landscape photographer and environmentalist who was known for his black-and-white images which showed the different perspectives and places of the American West. He was born on the 20th of February (San Francisco) , 1902 and died on the 22nd of April, 1984. An only child in a rather comfortable family. four years after Adams was born, a deadly earthquake of a whopping magnitude 7.9 struck the city. It was claimed that it cost more than 3,000 lives and pretty much left the city in absolute ruins. Adams family was majorly effected and was going through hard times in the unrelated financial crisis that followed in 1907, where New York Stock Exchange lost half of its value over the few weeks.

Adams did not fit it at school, his shyness was fuelled by his severely broken nose which he suffered during the earthquake, an unforgettable change that remained with him for the rest of his life. After Adams constantly changed schools, his dad had enough and finally decided to get him a tutor. During those years where he was tutored, Ansel took comfort in nature. He would take long walks in the forest and sand dunes that surrounded his family home. This is where his passion for nature started.

Although he was just as interested in music and photography, he later realised that he was not more suitable to be a professional musician, so with that conclusion, he poured his heart into photography, a skill he’d earned since he was 14. He gained this when he was given a Kodak Box Brownie Camera to take on family trips to the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the majestic Yosemite National Park.

Ansel achieved many things, one of the things being the fact that he helped found and renew a revolutionary group called Group f/64, an association of photographers that preached “pure” photography which advocated sharp focus and the use of the full tonal range of a photograph. The history behind this group was when Adams met photographer Edward Weston in 1927. They became really important to each other as colleagues and friends. This group was merging around the conceding greatness of Weston and the dynamic energy of Adams. Although the group was loosely organized and relatively short-lived, Group f/64 definitely brought the new West Coast vision of straight photography to national attention and influence. 

With the mention of Edward Weston, in terms of the f/64 group, him and his son Brett, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, and a handful of other photographers, formed the famous group f/64, the name honouring an aperture setting on a lens one might stop down to in order to attain the sharpest focus on photograph. The successful group introduced their work in an exhibition at San Francisco’s DeYoung Museum.

Edward Weston (who was born in 1886 and died in 1958) and Ansel Adams, were two of the more influential American photographers of the twentieth century. These talented Californian artists launched their unique work during the years between the two world wars. Over the course of their lives, they became great friends who shared the same aesthetic.

Edward was an American photographer who was called “one of the most innovative and influential American photographers” and “one of the masters of 20th century photography.” Weston photographed some unique things, and over the course of his 40-year in the photography industry Weston photographed a set of subjects, including landscapes, nudes, still life’s, genre scenes, portraits and even whimsical parodies.He was very focused on people and placed of the American west and developed a “quintessentially American, and especially Californian, approach to modern photography”.

He was born in Chicago but at the ripe age of 21, he moved to California. He knew he wanted to be a photographer at an early age and from the start he wanted his work to typically focus on soft and Pictorialism which was what was popular at the time. Later he ditched that style and went on to be one if the foremost champions of highly detailed photographic images.

However, in 1947 he was sadly diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease soon stopped photographing. He then spent the rest of his 10 years of his life overseeing the printing of more than 1,000 of his most famous images.

Edward Weston work:

Zone system

Ansel would later create a system called the Zonal system (with 10 different tones) so that it would ensure that all tonal values were represented in the images. A tool for controlling an image based on a four interlocked variables distinctive to photography: the sensitivity of the negative paper, exposure time, lighting and studio development.

Etc…

Ansel Adams was a supporter for environmental protection, national parks and forming an on going legacy of feedback to the power of nature and the feeling sublime.

How does Ansel Adams images link romanticism?

It is evident that Ansel empathised romanticism in his work. Not only was that said but it was seen physically in his work. With his techniques, he was able to romanticise his inspiring work. Adams did this by using black and white film in his photos. He used this when he detained pictures of tall mountains, frosted hills, angelic lakes. Because of this, it added a certain uniqueness and produced a unique set of shades, tones, textures, lights, shadows and tonal value to his work, differentiating his work from others. This is an example where Ansel Adams created a romanticised example of landscape photography.

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it” Ansel Adams.

“There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept” Ansel Adams

What is Romanticism?

“Romanticism is beauty without bounds-the beautiful infinite.” – Jean Paul

Romanticism is an artistic and intellectual movement which stemmed from the rich and wealthy within Europe, around the late 18th to early 19th century. It consisted of attitudes, Ideals and art pieces that expressed a large emphasis on the romanticized rather than realistic celebrations of nature. Creating a falsified utopia out of the unsophisticated countryside. Romanticism generated from the individualism of the wealthy people in the 18th and 19th century’s conceptions of nature.

The Romanticism movement in art is highly associated to the ‘Age of Enlightenment’. This was an intellectual movement from the 17th and 18th century that consisted of ideas concerning God, Humanity, Nature but most importantly Reason due to its primary source of authority and legitimacy. The reason for its connection came from their similarities in their philosophies.

Coming from the Era of Enlightenment, The art form grew out of the disillusionment of values regarding reason and order after the French Revolution in 1789, where the French people revolted against their oppressive wealthier population and monarch. Brining an entire change to the nation neighbouring countries such as Britain, Italy and Spain adapted to these new ideals through theory and art.

What is the difference between Bucolic and pastoral?

Bucolic often refers to the pleasant aspects of country life and its nature. Pastoral is similarly defined, positively as the working elements of country.

The Art of the sublime –

The art of the sublime, which took place at same time of the enlightenment, is understood to mean a quality of greatness and grandeur, that inspires wonder and awe. This is specifically with regards to landscape. This can seen with this image for example.

Romanticism artist –

“I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, – light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful.”

John Constable, a Romanticist painter from the 1800s, painted his conceptions of the countryside like many others of the bucolic art pieces made by other artists at the time. Although still representing the exaggerated elements of nature, John constable drew directly from nature within most of his art pieces. This was due spending his childhood, in a small Suffolk village where he lived and witnessed the rural economy in its workings, this would later go on to inspire his artistical career and illustrate this through his romanticist paintings.