DAVID HOWARD ANSEL ADAMS DAVID HOWARD
DAVID HOWARD ANSEL ADAMS LETTER DAVID HOWARD
ANSEL ADAMS' INTERVIEW
WITH DAVID HOWARD                                       

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ANSEL ADAMS: BORN 1902    STARTED PHOTOGRAPHY  1916

QUESTION #1 DH: How do you feel photography has changed, as an art form, during your life time?
ANSWER AA: I’ve always thought it was an art form, but it had very low appreciation in the beginning., except for some Europeans, and of course Stieglitz. Stieglitz always considered photography to be an art form and is the “father” of the creative concepts of the twentieth century. I do not think there is any question of photography being an art form!
    I would say the second photographic renaissance began in the early 30’s with the F/64 Group and through the expression of Weston’s work and others. There still is some opposition to it in some museums  and art schools, but I think photography has really grown into a mature art form.
    The evaluation of the history of photography, and just what really did take place in the past one hundred and fifty years is difficult for me to say. A fine art historian can unravel it.

QUESTION #2 DH: Do you feel the motivations of young photographers differ from your original motivations?
ANSWER AA: Oh, in directions, but not in the basic intentions of art! Now they are departing from the strict straight photography that we promoted in the 30’s and 40’s. They're going into experiments and  new ideas; some of which are very handsome.
    I think we can not categorize. Things do not fit into a mold. Photography and photographers have an inevitable development. They progress more or less by steps. Every five or ten years some new point of view is developed and young people are inclined to follow it.
    It would take a critic or someone really trained in historical research to analyze it. I couldn’t. I’m just a photographer!

QUESTION #3 DH: How do the galleries for photography today compare with the photographic galleries when you first began to exhibit?
ANSWER AA: When I began there weren’t any galleries for photography that I knew of, other than Stieglitz’s center, which wasn’t a true gallery. It was more of a “laboratory.” I do not know what was in Europe, but as I make out, there were very few galleries devoted to photography. This was during the 30’s.
    Now there is a big turnover in the galleries. The top galleries are getting better all the time. A lot of galleries just struggle along, then a new one comes along. There are certainly a great number of galleries. I think this argues well for the art but there are, of course, a lot of “phonies” in all the arts.

QUESTION #4 DH: Why did you call Stieglitz's gallery a “laboratory” or experiment?
ANSWER AA: He was avidly devoted to the idea of photography as an art form. There was the “Fifth Avenue Gallery” and then there was the “American Place” on Madison Avenue. They were not commercial galleries. He showed, in the beginning, some for the first time, many of the greatest contemporary artists, and he developed his own group: O'Keeffe, Dove, and others. His was not a commercial gallery. He was a non-commercial knight in armor who conceived of photography as art, along with the other mediums.

QUESTION #5 DH: Do you think photography as become “Big Business?
ANSWER AA: Well, I think photography is being recognized and collected. Its’ values have certainly gone up and continue to go up.
    The old photographers, such as Cameron and other late 19th Century photographers, after the daguerreotype, are very valuable, chiefly because they are very scarce.
    There are people who are modern, like Strand, Caponigro, and Weston who are very important in the sales aspect. I do very well and there are some young people coming up. It is very encouraging in that respect. Photographers and artists contribute a lot to the world and have a right to exist in relative security and comfort.
 
QUESTION #6 DH: Do you feel fine art photography, when you began, was an “underground” activity with only a few people involved?
ANSWER AA: Yes, relatively few at the creative level; however the term “underground” really does not apply.

QUESTION #7 DH: How do you perceive the influx in photography?
ANSWER AA: Photography has escalated almost exponentially! It is a language which covers almost every aspect of communication; factual and expressive.
    The photo-journalist and the photo-poet are both important. The problem is to separate the major objectives of the various groups and not to attribute qualities and intentions where they do not belong.
    I think Dorothea Lange bridged the gap between photo-documentation and photo-poetry to an extraordinary degree. There are few such examples!


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