The Impact of Ansel Adams: Abelardo Morell and Catherine Opie
This fall, Ansel Adams in Our Time, Time, developed by Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, opened at Crystal Bridges. The exhibition featured more than 100 of the famous nature photographer’s images of the American landscape side-by-side with contemporary artists exploring similar themes. We acquired examples of two works in the exhibition by Cuban-born artist Abelardo Morell, who immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1962. We also connected with Los Angeles-based photographer Catherine Opie, whose work was also included in the show. Read about them here.
Alejo Benedetti Associate Curator, Contemporary Art
Crystal Bridges Acquires Artworks Seen in Ansel Adams in Our Time Abelardo Morell, Tent-Camera Image on Ground: View of Mount Moran and the Snake River from Oxbow Bend Grand Teton National Park , 2011 (ABOVE) Tent-Camera Image on Ground: View of Rio Grande and Mexico near Boquillas Canyon, Big Bend National Park, 2011 (not pictured)
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CB COLLECTION & E XHIBITIONS
The two waterways featured in the new acquisitions from Abelardo Morell might be familiar to some of our members: Snake River near Mount Moran and the Rio Grande. But look closer and you’ll realize there’s something slightly different about these photos. Borrowing the basic principles of a camera obscura, Morell sets up a tent outfitted with a periscope in view of his desired vista. The landscape is then projected directly on the ground inside the tent and he snaps a digital photograph of this projection (see rendering above). The resulting photograph does something truly astounding: it unites the mundane with the grand in one seamless image. It’s a radical approach to photographing and commenting on the landscape that brims with intrigue.
