From: Peter Marshall (petermarshall@cix.co.uk)
Date: 09/03/02-09:40:06 AM Z
> I saw John Szarkowski's "Ansel at 100" MOMA show not too long ago. HE
> seems
> to have deliberately avoided making reference to the "Ansel as Calendar
> Artist", featuring small works, and omitting the BIG Adams "trademark"
> works. I just thought I would make mention of this.
>
> BTW, if the MOMA show is any indication of the "art world's" opinion of
> Adams, I far prefer the calendar stuff.
>
>
> >Well, Jeff, I was trying to be kind. To leave some wiggle room for
> Ansel
> >Adams as "artist." If we count just the critics of today, I think
> >the consensus would be "calendar artist," as I believe someone in this
> >thread already pointed out. I didn't coin the term.
>
I think the art world can take some of the calendar stuff - there was
quite a lot of it in the "Ansel at 100" show, just as smallish prints.
What was I felt a mistake was that it left out anything other than the
landscape, and perhaps the greatest disappointment was that Szarkowski
also really failed to understand much of that.
If I'd been given the job instead of Szarkowski, there would have been a
very different selection, including pictures from Manzanar, some of the
portraits, some architectural stuff... And a few really big prints of the
landscape, but missing out about three quarters of those that Szarkowski
had. I saw it as a missed opportunity to re-evaluate his work.
However, all I got to do was to write a couple of features about it!
Peter Marshall
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