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Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1290149
JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette W hen thinking on the work of iconic American photographer Ansel Adams, people are often swept up in the discussion of how beautiful the landscapes are, or even his technical skills, shares Alejo Benedetti. While those pieces are certainly present in "Ansel Adams in Our Time," there is much more to the photographer and environmentalist's work. "It's difficult to show his work and not talk about those things," admits Benedetti, who is the associate curator of contemporary art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. "But one of the other things that we made a point of drawing out and making very apparent for folks is these places are not neutral, and Ansel Adams was aware of it at times. He's also a product of the moment in which he was going into those spaces. "So what is also nice is to have that contemporary component, where you have these artists who are going into these same places that we know from Ansel Adams' photos, that we know from popular culture, but then trying to press us to think about it from a slightly different perspective or from an expanded perspective." "Ansel Adams in Our Time" opened at Crystal Bridges — after moving from its scheduled May date due to the coronavirus pandemic — this weekend and will be on display through Jan. 3. The exhibition, curated by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, presents more than 100 works by Adams, alongside 19th-century photographers and 24 of his contemporary successors. "What's interesting about this is it really is thinking about Ansel Adams as our backbone, and placing him into a context," Benedetti offers. "Looking back to the past to see, primarily, his 19th-century predecessors — others who have gone to some of the same places that he went to and folks that informed his outlook on how one would photograph, for example, Yosemite. But then also looking at 24 contemporary artists who continue to work with that legacy that exists with Ansel Adams." SEPTEMBER 20-26, 2020 WHAT'S UP! 3 COVER STORY See Adams Page 4 Contemporary Context Ansel Adams' evocative legacy still inspires Famed Ansel Adams photograph "The Tetons and Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming" was one of only 115 images chosen (along with another piece by Adams) to represent human life and culture on NASA's 1977 Voyager mission, where two spacecrafts were sent to interstellar space carrying a small database representative of humanity. "That's a pretty bold statement to be able to select just a specific number of objects that speak to humanity more holistically — that's a wild endeavor," enthuses Alejo Benedetti, contemporary curator at Crystal Bridges. "I actually had not known that his work was out in space, so of course I loved that little tidbit." (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Lane Collection/Copyright The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust) (Courtesy Photo/Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) FAQ 'Ansel Adams in Our Time' WHEN — On display through Jan. 3 WHERE — Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville COST — $12; members, veter- ans and youth under 18, free INFO — 418-5700, crystalbridges.org