Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Ansel Adams Moonrise, Hernandez



Gotta love big black and white silver gelatin prints. This is a really tough negative to print.
I love the moon in photographs. You can get it two days before the full moon as a moonrise and two days after the full moon as a moon set. Seems it's always bigger in your imagination than in the photograph.
Ansel Adams `Moonrise' print sold for $360K in NYC       NEW YORK - A 1948 print of Ansel Adams' iconic photograph "Moonrise, Hernandez,  New Mexico" has sold for $360,000 at an auction in New York City.  Swann Auction  Galleries said the rare print was bought Tuesday by a U.S. collector who wanted  to remain anonymous.  Its pre-sale estimate was $350,000 to $450,000.  Made in a  range of subtle grays, the signed print shows a nighttime moon over a  cloud-fringed mountain range with a graveyard in the foreground.  A later print  of "Moonrise" sold at the same auction for $48,000, just over its high estimate  of $45,000.  The sale prices include a buyer's premium of 20 percent. 

Taken on Halloween, 1941 with his 8X10 camera off the side of the road. I could have bought one for 250.00 in 1774 at his Yosemite workship. I've got the poster instead. Makes a nice Christmas present.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

1774??

Wasn't that a tab bit before either one of you was born . . Mathuselah?

B Woodman
III-per (with a chuckle)

Anonymous said...

I had no idea you were so far advanced in years. No wonder your writing is so good.

Unknown said...

In my opinion the print he made for Pirkle Jones (sic) is a better print.
Lower contrast and a broader tonal range. It sold in a Sotheby's auction for over $600M.
I think it was Harry Lund, a Washington D.C. dealer, that got him to print with more contrast. All though I understand that there are a number of people who take credit for his moving in that direction.
I agree with you that there are very few things that I have ever seen that as beautiful as well printed black and white photographs.
Too bad about not buying the print in 1974.