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Gelatin silver print of aspen trees
Aspens, Northern New Mexico
Gelatin silver print of aspen trees
Gelatin silver print of aspen trees

Aspens, Northern New Mexico

Artist (American, 1902 - 1984)
Date1958 (printed later)
Mediumgelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 15 3/8 × 19 1/4 in. (39.1 × 48.9 cm)
Support: 22 × 28 in. (55.9 × 71.1 cm)
Mat: 24 1/8 × 67 5/8 in. (61.3 × 171.8 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of anonymous donor, 2013
Object number2013.40.1
DescriptionHorizontal composition filled with aspen trunks and two smaller trees with leaves. Undergrowth visible at bottom margin of composition.
Text Entries
One of Ansel Adams’ most beloved images is this view of aspen trees in autumn, taken during a drive in the Sangre de Cristo mountains north of Santa Fe. Though the scene was a colorful one, Adams decided to photograph it in black-and-white, emphasizing the linear tree trunks and the play of light on leaves and bark.

The photograph was made in the Sangre de Cristo mountains north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. See also 1982.13.6 for another view of aspen trees made on the same day. (Ware)

See “Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs,” by Ansel Adams (Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1983), pp. 60-64, for information about the making of this photograph. Adams made two photographs of aspens in the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the fall of 1958, this horizontal view and a vertical view that concentrates on the tree trunks. (Ware)

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