Sunrise, Dunes, Death Valley National Monument

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Sunrise, Dunes, Death Valley National Monument

Artist Ansel Easton Adams American, 1902-1984

Date1948

Dimensionsimage: 13 3/4 x 10 3/8 in. (34.9 x 26.4 cm)
mount: 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm)

Mediumgelatin silver print

ClassificationPhotographs

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by an anonymous donor

Object number

1975.3

Not on View

Collections

Works on Paper

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Ansel Adams, June 30-Sept. 24, 2006.

Toledo Museum of Art, Refraction/Reflection, Apr. 20-Sept. 2, 2012.

Toledo Museum of Art, Speaking Visual: Learning the Language of Art, Oct. 31, 2014-Jan. 25, 2015.

Label TextAdams recalled his experience making this photograph: I remember many sunrises in Death Valley, especially one near Stovepipe Wells in 1948. After sleeping on the camera platform atop my car, I woke before dawn, made some coffee and stoked my stomach with beans reheated from last night’s supper. I then perched my camera and tripod across my shoulders and plodded heavily through the shifting sand dunes, attempting to find just the right light upon just the right dune. The sun floated above the margins of the Funeral Range, promising a very hot day. Just then, almost magically, I saw an image become substance: the light of sunrise traced a perfect line down a dune that alternately glowed with the light and receded in shadow.