


In the mid-19 th century, the painted American landscape was most readily associated with the so-called Hudson River School.In 1952, with Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, Dorothea Lange, Minor White and others, Adams co-founded the photography quarterly, Aperture which was part of Adam's career-long mission (started with Group f/64) to promote the merits of serious, contemplative, photographic art. He published books - or manuals - on the technical aspects of photography and he used his own portfolios to help lobby politicians for the creation and upkeep of American National Parks. Adams himself was a highly accomplished technician. Adams and his friend and colleague Edward Weston founded Group f/64 whose commitment to the idea of a pure, or "higher", photography helped shape the history of early-to-mid 20 th century modernism and secured photography's place - as fine art - within it. He was a committed environmentalist and nothing short of an icon for the 20th century conservation movement. Adams's professional life was dedicated to capturing through his lens the forgotten and unspoiled wilderness of America's national parks and other protected conservation areas in the West. He might also be the most widely known and respected of all American photographers, whose legend continues through books and television documentaries, and through the prevalent reproduction of his work on calendars, posters, postcards and other ephemera. Ansel Adams was the most important American landscape photographer of the 20 th century.
