ADAMS ANSEL (1902 1984) Moonrise Hernandez New Mexico

Sale 1981 - Lot 180

Unsold

Estimate: $ 30,000 - $ 40,000

ADAMS, ANSEL (1902-1984)
"Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico." Silver print, 151/4x19 inches (38.7x48.3 cm.), on a 22x28 inch mount, signed by Adams, in pencil, on mount recto; with Adams's Carmel hand stamp and the title, negative date, and printing date, in ink, on mount verso. Circa 1941; printed 1978

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Undoubtedly an icon of American photography and Ansel Adams's most popular photograph, the making of this powerful image is legendary. Adams was returning from a less than successful day of photographing when he glanced out his car window and saw this haunting scene. He quickly set up his 8x10 view camera but discovered that his exposure meter was not to be found. Luckily, he was able to recall the luminance of the moon, and using his Zone System, he calculated the appropriate exposure. The light changed before he could take a second exposure. Making prints from the resulting negative was a laborious task because of the wide tonal range of the photograph and Adams eventually treated the lower half of the negative to make printing the foreground easier. For all of Adams's careful documentation of the process of creating this image, the actual date of its creation was debated for some time. Eventually, an astronomer was called in to calculate the date using the position of the moon; October 31, 1941 was decided upon. This image is reproduced in countless magazines and books including