Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park

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Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park

Artist Ansel Easton Adams (American, 1902-1984)

Dateabout 1927 (negative)

Dimensions(TMA) Mount: 22 x 28 in.;
Image: 14 13/16 x 19 1/8 in.

MediumGelatin-silver print

ClassificationPhotographs

Credit LineGift of Margaret and Howard Bond

Object number

2010.22

Not on View

Label TextOn a bright spring Yosemite day in 1927 Ansel Adams made a photograph that was to change his understanding of the medium: This photograph represents my first conscious visualization; in my mind’s eye I saw (with reasonable completeness) the final image as made with the red filter…upon development of the plate…I can still recall the excitement of seeing the visualization “come true” when I removed the plate from the fixing bath for examination. He visualized Half-Dome as a brooding form, with deep shadows and a distinct sharp peak against a dark sky: Over the years I became increasingly aware of the importance of visualization. The ability to anticipate—to see in the mind’s eye, so to speak—the final print while viewing the subject makes it possible to apply the numerous controls of the craft in precise ways that contribute to achieving the desired results.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Refraction/Reflection, April 20-September 2, 2012.