Authors: Mary Street Alinder
Ansel Adams (87 page)
23. AFTERIMAGE
1
“Robert Motherwell and the New York School: Storming the Citadel,” in
American Masters
, television program (New York: WNET, 1991).
2
Anne Adams Helms, ed.,
Remembering Virginia
(Salinas, Calif.: Anne Adams Helms, 2000).
3
Rob Hastings, “Ansel Adams: A Son’s Perspective,”
Independent
, London, England, March 13, 2013.
4
“Michael Adams, Son of Photographer Ansel Adams, to Speak About Father at Riverfront Museum,”
Journal Star,
Peoria, Illinois, 2013.
5
Hastings, “Ansel Adams: A Son’s Perspective.”
6
Anne Adams Helms,
The Descendants of William James Adams and Cassandra Hills Adams
(Salinas, Calif.: Anne Adams Helms, 1999), 206–335; Anne Adams Helms,
The Descendants of David Best and Jane Eliza King Best
(Monterey, Calif.: Anne Adams Helms, 1995), 70–89.
7
Wallace Stegner,
Miraculous Instants of Light: Ansel Adams 1902–1984
, James Alinder, ed. (Carmel, Calif.: The Friends of Photography, 1984), 51–52.
8
National Wilderness Preservation System
, brochure (San Francisco: Sierra Club, March 1985), 5.
9
George Wuerthner,
Yosemite: A Visitor’s Companion
(Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 1994), 208–209.
The closest road access to a trail head in the Ansel Adams Wilderness is at a distance of two miles from its border. Wilderness permits are necessary for hiking. Information can be obtained by calling the North Fork Forest Service at (209) 877–2218.
Every summer, Southern Yosemite Mountain Guides lead trips into the Ansel Adams Wilderness, from day-hikes to four-nights camping. For more information e-mail www.symg.com. Maria Streshinsky, “A Backcountry Hike in the High Sierra,”
Motorland, Travel and News Magazine of the West
116, no. 3 (California State Automobile Association, May–June 1995): 40–42.
10
“Mount Ansel Adams in the Lyell Fork,”
Yosemite Sentinel
11, no. 4 (Yosemite Park and Curry Company, April 1985): 1.
The writing of this book forced me to come to grips with Ansel and with his enormous impact both on the world and on me personally. I could not have made this difficult journey without the kind assistance of many.
My mother, Mickey, taught me that the library was my friend. How right she was. The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona is the repository of Ansel’s archive as well as the archives of many of his compatriots. Luckily, I had been able to wallow in all this biographical richness when it still lay behind closet doors at Ansel’s house, but for this book I needed additional research, as well as confirmation of earlier knowledge, and the highly professional staff of the Center is unfailingly generous with its time and its intellect, especially Amy Rule, the archivist for many years; Leslie Calmes, formerly the assistant archivist and now archivist and head of research services; Denise Gosé, copyright and permissions and manager of digital collections; Tammy Carter, licensing specialist; and Terry Pitts, the past director, and the current director, Katharine Martinez.
I am also highly appreciative of both the collections and the staffs of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, especially Willa K. Baum, who was the division head of the Regional Oral History Office for many years, and Cici Nickerson; the Beinecke Library, Yale University; the San Francisco Public Library; the Stockton Public Library; and the libraries at the University of Michigan and Stanford University. The treasure trove of the Yosemite National Park Research Library is almost hidden above the Yosemite Museum; there I fell into the helpful arms of skilled librarian Linda Eade, the park’s very knowledgeable research historian who has been so generously helping so many scholars for nearly forty-five years; David Forgang, the museum’s chief curator at the time of my original investigations; and James B. Snyder.
The Sierra Club’s William E. Colby Memorial Library in San Francisco has been a great resource. Its riches have been made accessible by their extraordinary and kind librarian, Ellen Byrne, who found exactly what I was looking for and then shared many lovely surprises to add to my research as well. She knows the library’s resources from beginning to end. Jim Bradbury, executive editor at the Sierra Club, has been very supportive as well.
I am indebted to many fine scholars whose work has contributed greatly to my understanding of Ansel Adams, but I would like especially to acknowledge Nancy Newhall, Ansel’s brilliant first biographer, whose
The Eloquent Light
and “The Enduring Moment” provided essential information; Beaumont Newhall, who overwhelmed me with his generous sharing of knowledge; and Ruth Teiser and Catherine Harroun, whose valuable interviews with Ansel on behalf of the Oral History Project of the Bancroft Library run to 747 pages.
I have the highest esteem for Dr. Donald W. Olson, astronomer and professor of physics at Texas State University, San Marco. His investigations with his students into the dating of Ansel’s negatives are both scientific and wondrous. When I have questions, if Don doesn’t know the answers, he sets off in search of the truth that by then we both seek. He makes me want to go back to school and sign up for his astronomy classes.
For their keen perceptions of Ansel, I would like to thank Robert Baker, Ruth-Marion Baruch, Peter C. Bunnell, Liliane De Cock, Phyllis Donohue, Patricia Farbman, Marj Farquhar, Tim Hill, Pirkle Jones, Fumiye Kodani, Doris Leonard, Pete Merritt, Sue Meyer, Beaumont Newhall, Ted Orland, Rondal Partridge, Terry Pitts, Chris Rainier, David Scheinbaum, Willard Van Dyke, Maggi Weston, Charis Wilson, and Don Worth. Their interviews greatly enhanced and balanced this prose portrait. In addition, a few dear souls volunteered to read drafts of this book: the comments of John Breeden, P. Kay Dryden, Bryan McCann, Naomi Schwartz, Creig Hoyt, and my dearly missed, and always supportive and loving parents, Mickey and Scott Street, proved invaluable.
I am grateful to colleagues and friends for their assistance, especially Alice and Gilbert Alinder, Susanna Barlow, Ted Benedict, Alan Coleman, Heidi Endemann, Peter Farmer, Peter Farquhar, Joseph Holmes, Linda Lichter, Richard Lutgen, Christi Newhall, Wendy Platt, Shirley Sargent, David Scheinbaum, Jonathan Spaulding, Sjaan Vanden Broeder, Barbara Van Dyke, and Richard Zakia.
During the nine years I worked for Ansel, including the period following his death, I was part of a hardworking team. I treasure those colleagues: Robert Baker, Victoria Bell, King Dexter, Phyllis Donohue, Rod Dresser, Pam Feld, Sabrina Herring, Fumiye Kodani, Stuart Lobenberg, Bob Millman, Chris Rainier, Alan Ross, John Sexton, Judy Siria, and Bruce Witham.
Over an expanse of time and a variety of projects, Virginia Adams was never too busy to answer my questions. She remains a hero to me in many ways, in part for forging a career and raising children while standing by a man who may not have deserved such faithfulness. Anne Adams Helms’s research into her family’s genealogy is impeccable and has provided important historic information.
At my back at all times has been Charles Ferguson, my friend and, lucky for me, my attorney. His wise counsel provided a framework within which I was able to determine how best to pursue the telling of Ansel’s life story. I value the additional advice expertly provided by Fred Koenigsberg and Steve Betensky.
Ray Roberts, senior editor at Henry Holt, was my very trusted editor on the first edition of this book. Ray and I had previously worked easily and successfully together on both Ansel’s autobiography and the book of letters. Ray personally knew Ansel, lived through many of the events of those same last years, and understood better than almost anyone else the story recounted here. Ray was this book’s necessary and loyal champion, and I am forever indebted to him. I so clearly remember his phone call after he read my original draft for this biography. He said, “OK. You’ve gotten that out of your system, now start again.” As difficult as that was to hear, following a good cry, I began from scratch.
When this book was originally published in 1996, it found an appreciative readership. I was over the moon by the positive critical reviews as well as the letters and e-mails I still receive from new readers. But, eventually it went out of print. I am extremely grateful to Victoria Shoemaker, who loved my biography of Ansel Adams for years and insisted it must be returned to print in a completely updated and revised edition. Victoria defines what it is to be the best literary agent.
Victoria found a great advocate in Anton Mueller, senior editor at Bloomsbury, who is knowledgeable about photographic history and passionate about the book projects he undertakes. In every instance, the people who are Bloomsbury have been consummate professionals and thus easy to work with. I thank Rachel Mannheimer, editor; Patti Ratchford, the director of design; and production editor Nikki Baldauf, who supported me and this book in many ways.
For their perceptive and caring support, I am grateful to Tim Franklin, Lee Goldman, M.D., Tom Bertolli, M.D., and Lester Jacobson, M.D., who have helped me through life’s medical challenges with their intellect and kindness.
Our children, Jasmine, Jesse, and Zachary, always seemed to understand about their working mom. Although during my years with Ansel and company I was often too engrossed in my job, they have never once criticized me for being less than they needed. For this book, both Jasmine, who is now an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and Zachary, an attorney specializing in intellectual property, provided essential research at various university libraries. Each also read the manuscript more than once and improved the book immensely. Jasmine’s essential research on photography and the incarceration of Japanese American citizens during World War II, published in her 2009 book,
Moving Images
, expanded and deepened my understanding of this tragic and critical period in American history and the important involvement of Ansel and other photographers.
Central both to this book and to my life is my husband, Jim. For years I flopped along on the text, making slight progress in fits and starts as I wrote in the off hours from my paid job; then, Jim gave me the gift of time, the only thing that would allow me to complete the book and then years later to fully revise it. Without Jim, I would not be in photography. Without Jim, I might be stuck back at the Walter Keane level of art appreciation. Without Jim, I would be a lesser version of me. Jim continues to work as a full-time photographer, with two books of his photographs published in 2013, and has directed his photography gallery (Alinder Gallery) for the past twenty-four years. Jim not only has read each draft but has been involved with every aspect of the manuscript. He has taken charge of all the photographs reproduced here. Ansel would not have come into my life without Jim, and neither would have this book.
And finally, somehow, I must thank Ansel himself, though words cannot come close. I do know the debt I owe him as my teacher and my friend. He will never leave me, and I can never leave him.
Mary Street Alinder
July 2014
The author and publisher deeply appreciate the permission given by the following individuals and institutions to reproduce the following photographs:
© 1984 Jim Alinder:
Ansel Adams, February 1984
; © 1982 Jim Alinder,
Ansel and His Half Dome 80
th
Birthday Cake
, 1982; © 1981 Jim Alinder,
Ansel with Two Moonrises, in the Gallery of His Home, Carmel Highlands, California
, 1981; © 1981 Jim Alinder,
Ansel in his Darkroom, Carmel Highlands, California
, 1981; © 1984 Jim Alinder,
Ansel Printing The Tetons and the Snake River in His Darkroom, Carmel Highlands
, 1984; © Jim Alinder,
Since 1902 in 1982
; © 1982,
Virginia’s 78
th
Birthday Party, Adams’ Home, Carmel Highlands
(from left: Michael, Virginia, Anne, and Ansel), 1982.
Collection of the Beinecke Library, Yale University: Photographer Unknown,
Ansel Adams Exhibition at An American Place
, 1936.
Courtesy the Collection of Michael Burnley, Bookseller: Allen & Hay Photo Studio,
Ralph Selby, Charles Hitchcock Adams, and Olive Bray, San Francisco,
c. 1891.
The writer thanks the Colby Memorial Library, Sierra Club for use of its historical archives: Cedric Wright,
Ansel
Adams, c. 1940; Cedric Wright,
Ansel Adams and Patsy English, 1936 Sierra Club Outing
; Cedric Wright,
Ansel Adams and Mule, Sierra Nevada,
c. 1930
;
Cedric Wright,
Ansel Cooking on his Car’s Tailgate,
c. 1940s; Cedric Wright,
Ansel Photographing from Car Platform, the Eastern Sierra Nevada,
c. 1950; Cedric Wright,
Ansel Sitting on and Wearing the “Straddlevarious,”
c. 1936; and
Cedric Wright,
In the Sierra
, c. 1932;
and Photographer Unknown,
Sierra Club Board of Directors Meeting
, c. 1960s
(from left: Ansel, Richard Leonard, David Brower, Ed Wayburn, and unknown woman).