Artist: Ansel Adams

Just discovered a great article on the AP wire about Ansel Adams. There's been a recent discovery of some photographs of his that most likely were never entended for public viewing. But, now they've been revealed as "proofs" of images he was planning on photographing. Sketch-photos, if you will.

Everyone loves something behind-the-scenes. Famous, heroic artists like Adams are normally preserved under bright lights beneath big museum names. But it's rare that we get the chance to see them as human, experimenting, messing around with ideas.

"Adams' prints are perfection," exhibit curator Stephen Jareckie said. "But these proofs have a certain vitality that you don't find in a finished print. It gives them an educational point of view and shows the public what Adams' work is like at that stage — a work in progress."

Do you think Adams would have been cool with this? If you became a famous artist, revered by the billions, would you want a sketchbook of your ideas released to the public?

William Turnage, one of three Adams' trustees [said]. "I think it's unethical in terms of museum ethics and behavior. It's something that never would be done at MoMA or the Art Institute of Chicago. ...But you know, what the heck? Some people are going to take advantage and try to profiteer, and there's nothing we can do about it."

Ethical or not, what can we learn from this? That everything we make is about process, that nothing just appears as it is, and images take time to unfold. Artists think, and they plan, or they plan not to think. Either way, it's process.

"The more we find out about artists, the better perception we have of their life," Pendergraft said. "This gives us a better feel for Ansel Adams and some of his travels through the country that we didn't realize he had been in. It fills in some of the blanks and will give the visitor here a whole new perception of who he was and how he took photographs."

Source