Yesterday afternoon, freed by a babysitter, Jane and I went down to the Autry Museum of the American West to see their current exhibition, Yosemite: Art of an American Icon. I’d heard that the exhibition had a number of Ansel Adams prints on loan from the Huntington, including two prints of Monolith: The Face of Half Dome, one printed in 1927 just after the exposure was made, and one printed in 1980 shortly before Adams’ death. It turns out that that was just the beginning: the exhibition contains a wide variety of photographs from the 1860’s on. In addition to many by Adams, including Clearing Winter Storm (a personal favorite), there are many prints by pioneers Charles Weed, Carleton Watkins, and Edweard Muybridge, and a fair number by Edward Weston as well. There are also many paintings, old and new, few of which did much for me, and a fair number of more recent photographs, some of which are quite good. But the real heart of the exhibition are the photos by Weed, Watkins, Muybridge, Weston, and Adams.

If you’re at all into photography, don’t miss this exhibition. Seeing a photo on the web, or even a good reproduction in a well-done art book, just isn’t the same as seeing a real print. And while the great paintings get hung in galleries, the great photos tend to be kept in drawers and only brought out on special occasions. Seeing so many prints by some of the real pioneers of the art of landscape photography all together in one place is a real treat. I might have to go back for another visit; once the exhibit closes on April 22nd, it’s unlikely that I’ll get another chance to see most of these.

Once it closes here, the exhibition will be travelling on to Oakland, Reno, and Indianapolis. And if you won’t be able to visit the exhibition, the catalog is available from the museum’s store; I was glad to get a copy.