Museum Storeroom

1931

First solo museum exhibition at the Smithsonian

In 1931 the Smithsonian Institution hosts Adams's first solo museum exhibition, “Pictorial Photographs of the Sierra Nevada Mountains by Ansel Adams” — sixty prints taken in the High Sierra and the Canadian Rockies. The Washington Post writes that his photographs are like portraits of giant peaks inhabited by mythical gods.

1932

Group f/64: the de Young exhibition and manifesto

In 1932 Adams, Imogen Cunningham and Edward Weston show together at the M. H. de Young Museum and soon form Group f/64, which stands for “pure” or “straight” photography against pictorialism. Adams writes the group's manifesto for the exhibition: pure photography, it declares, has no qualities of technique, composition or idea derived from any other art form.

1933

Opens his own gallery in San Francisco

Following the example of Alfred Stieglitz, Adams opens his own art and photography gallery in San Francisco in 1933. He begins publishing essays in photography magazines, and in 1935 writes his first instructional book, “Making a Photograph.”

1933

The birth of his son Michael

In 1933 the Adamses' first child, a son, Michael, is born; two years later a daughter, Anne, follows. In the summers Adams still goes on the Sierra Club's High Trips as the group's paid photographer.

1934

First defines “visualization” in print

In 1934 Adams first defines in print the concept of “visualization” — picturing each image before taking it — which becomes a core principle of his photography. With it he pursues higher quality, relying on small apertures and long exposures in natural light, as in “Rose and Driftwood” (1933).

1934

Elected to the Sierra Club's board of directors

In 1934 Adams is first elected to the Sierra Club's board of directors, on which he will serve for thirty-seven years; his wife also served as a director.