The Ansel Adams Show at the HRC, on the UT campus, is very, very good. Go see it!

Hard to see in a photograph but this is the First Photo ever. 

Yes. You can see it in person. At the HRC. 

This is a pictorial review of the Ansel Adams show

at the Harry Ransom Center. Right now.

I walked into the HRC to see the show. The first person I ran into, at the front desk,

was my long time friend, Kathy. She was an art director at Texas Monthly Magazine

way back when I started my photo career. We also had studios across the hall from

each other in the infamous California Hotel down on East 7th St. Her studio was

for painting while mine was a small portrait studio. 

We spent a lot of time catching up and then she sent me off to see the show.

When I entered the gallery at 10:30 in the morning I was the only person in the entire gallery space. 

No docents, no curators, no janitors and no visitors. Solo. Me and a bunch of work 

by Ansel Adams, his contemporaries, and the work of a few notables who were

influenced by him. Amazing to have an entire show all to myself...

The prints are meticulously lit and perfectly displayed. 

I have included the note cards adjacent to the work of artists other than 

Ansel Adams to give an idea of the scope and variety of other original 

works that are being presented in the show. Most of the included are wonderful while 

others seem to confirm my belief that certain current "artists" have made a 

deal with the devil meant to make themselves popular.

I won't mention names.....

A wonderful Elliott Erwitt Landscape!

Hmmmmm. Really? Chosen by an overwhelmed curator 

after a happy hour with financial donors?

Finally. A very quiet visitor with which to share a gallery. 

Honestly? Peer pressure selection? Proof that artists were 

actually much better in the good old days? A tribute to banal

technique? ....Let it go, Kirk. Let it go.

The show features 25 Ansel Adams prints, ranging from earlier works but also

including later images,  including "Moonrise" and other favorites. 

The real treasures, for those familiar with AA's work, are the inclusion of

works by masters like Edward Weston, Raymond Depardieu, Wynn Bullock and

many others contemporaries. 

My favorite two images in the show are by AA and are of close up still lifes.

One is a gorgeous close up of a flower bloom, done perfectly and so wonderfully

seen and executed that I still see the afterimage in my eyes whenever I 

think about or remember the show. 

The other is a moderate close-up of reeds covered with dew drops. The 

scene, rendered in black and white is the perfect distribution of tones and 

textures. But also seems to have a life of its own. 

I had never seen either of these images before and they may be

more inline with contemporary tastes. Mine included, at least. 

The show was a wonderful high spot for the week (at least so far). It's well worth a mid-week visit, if you are near Austin. The show will run through the end of the year. The HRC is always a most welcome environment in which to see art and photography. Or photographic art. Or just art.